Savage Love
by Mecha74
Summary: In a post apocalyptic world ruled by a vicious new breed of vampire, Abby and Owen struggle to survive and search for a way to end this terrible nightmare they find themselves in. Will their love be strong enough to pull them through? FINAL CHAPTER IS UP!
1. After The Fall

I want to give a shout out to realbullet, DavidZahir and TorontoBatFan, who helped me fine tune these chapters. :)

x

Author's note: Gonna warn you now folks. This story is dark, disturbing, morbid and disgusting on allot of levels. So if you read this and feel an overpowering urge to send hate mail, just remember YOU WERE WARNED BEFOREHAND.

STORY HAS TONS OF GORE, SEXUAL CONTENT, VULGAR LANGUAGE AND DISTURBING IMAGERY.

X

X

SAVAGE LOVE

X

X

Somewhere in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest…

In the pale moonlight a young man ran for his life. Running from something terrible in the dark, something wholly inhuman. His heart beat heavy in his chest, as if it were moments away from bursting from his sternum. The blood pumping through his limbs as he pushed his body to its limits. But that same blood was what 'they' hungered for. The very thing that gave him life and the strength to move on also betrayed him, for the things that now hunted him could hear and smell it miles away.

Up ahead he spotted what appeared to be an abandoned cabin and summoned one last desperate surge of adrenaline to force himself forward in the hopes that he could reach it before they reached him. But the gap between them was closing fast, he could hear them on his heels, they were right behind him snarling and growling.

With a mighty lunge he threw himself through the front door that was luckily wide open. His luck was short lived however as he sprang back up to realize that the door's knob was broken and it had no lock. He quickly shut it and put his weight against it, but it was to no avail as the creatures crashed through it sending him flying across the room. The first of them charged forward once inside ready to pounce upon its prey. But in the man's hand was a pickaxe, which he managed to swing up and bury into the side of his attacker's head. Unfortunately it became stuck there leaving him defenseless against five others that now piled in. He screamed as they leapt toward him.

It was then that the closest one to him was beset upon by something else as a tiny form suddenly fell from the ceiling onto its back. A pair of yellow blazing eyes could be seen, which were in stark contrast to the glowing red eyes of the predators. Moments later its head was ripped from its body. The remaining four stopped dead in their tracks as the small shape turned to face them, now standing between them and their intended victim. The man couldn't make out what it was in the darkness of the cabin, but it couldn't have been more than five feet tall. They proceeded to circle the diminutive being and then with a unified howl converged on it. But the petite silhouette moved with more speed than all of them combined as their attacks missed their mark time and again. The hapless human took advantage of the distraction to dart by them and rush back out the door, he just hoped that there were not more waiting for him outside.

Once outside he made it a few steps and then tripped as he hit the ground hard. He rolled over on his back as his ears continued to listen to the carnage inside. The horrendous sounds of ripping flesh and breaking bones could be heard as the human's stomach turned at the disgusting images that the sounds produced in his mind. Black blood and body parts splattered in all directions, with some of it spraying out of the cabin's windows. At one point another severed head rolled out the front door and right up to the man's feet, however the head was missing its bottom jaw. After a few more moments the commotion inside ceased and all was quiet.

Shortly thereafter, the young man's mysterious savior slowly stepped out of the cabin's doorway. Finally he could get a halfway decent look at the individual in question as the moonlight that was unable to pierce the blackness of the cabin's interior shined down. He immediately gasped as he gazed upon what looked to be a young girl who couldn't have been more than 12 years old. Her face though caked in the viscous and acrid blood of her attackers still projected an odd sort of innocence that belied her otherwise tattered and haggard appearance. Flowing from her head was golden gossamer hair with tinges and streaks of brown in it. Where her glowing yellow eyes once were there was a hazy blue now instead. It seemed unbelievable to the would be victim that this tiny girl could do what she had just done, he was understandably confused.

"Who-who are you…ho-how did you…wha-what are you?" He stammered.

She disregarded his question by asking one of her own.

"Are you alright?" She asked, with a voice as soft as velvet.

"Um, yeah. I guess so."

"Were you bitten, did they infect you?" She went on.

"N-no."

"Good." She said as she suddenly vaulted herself upon him with an ear splitting shriek.

Her beautiful blue eyes turned yellow once more as she bared a set of crooked gnarled teeth. Gone was the image of innocence, gone was the sweet young girl, now she was the demon once more. He didn't even have time to scream as she buried her mouth into his jugular. He struggled and fought but learned far too late that she was far stronger than the monsters that he had been fleeing from initially. Her jaws locked upon him like a pitbull as she drank deeply. She could feel his bones breaking under her viselike grip. Eventually his resistance faltered as she drained every last drop of blood from him. She then rolled off of him onto her back as she began to spasm and shudder, a side effect of going far too long without feeding. Three weeks to be exact, longer than she had ever gone without sustenance before. There was a time when Abby could afford to be selective with potential prey. Those days were long gone.

The year was 1988.

Just a few short years ago a terrible new strain of the vampire virus began to sweep unstoppably across the globe. Civilization as we knew it fell apart. Now humans were scarce, living in small pockets and colonies across the landscape. A world ruled by vampires proved problematic for Abby, especially when there wasn't enough food to go around. This however was a new breed of vampire. These creatures would never be mistaken for human, nor could they pass as such. They had veiny skin and red eyes that never changed in color along with rows of sharp pointed teeth. They possessed little or no intelligence. They were savage animals. Pure motorized instinct, driven by but one goal. The need to feed. Other differences were a mixed bag. These vampires could not fly, but they could however enter homes without being invited. Also, they had the luxury of being able to feed on animal blood, though they preferred human.

There was much speculation about how the infection came about. Everything from government experiments gone awry to the wrath of God himself. None of that mattered now though, for none were still alive who remembered. Granted for Abby time itself was irrelevant, all that mattered to her was the rising and setting of the sun. What she did know was that as hellish as her life was before, she would give anything to have it back compared to the world that she lived in now.

When she recovered from her starved seizure she reached over and got a firm grip on her victim's head and gave it a sharp twist snapping the vertebrae.

She looked down at the poor soul whose blood had saved her from death. He had been part of a family traveling through the wilderness on their way to one of the settlements that was nearby. They had almost made it…almost. A pack of 'ferals', as Abby called them fell upon them only a couple of miles from what would have been a safe haven. They fought bravely killing many of the creatures but were eventually overwhelmed, leaving the lone survivor that Abby had tracked here. It was indeed sad that Abby had saved him only so she could feed, but competition for food was fierce. A single tear trickled down her left cheek as she ran her fingers over the man's eyes closing them.

She couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before she would feed again. Her only recourse was to catch singular individuals or small groups outside the scattered settlements on their own. Attempting to sneak into the colonies to find prey was too dangerous, especially now that vampires were an accepted part of human society…along with the knowledge of how to kill them. But first and fore most in her mind was her journey, the reason she had come this far to begin with. She could not even allow her hunger to distract her.

In any case, it was time to move on.

xxxxxxxxx

With only minutes to spare before sunrise Abby now stood before the entrance to a storm cellar on a deserted farm. She wanted desperately to continue her search, but the fast approaching dawn would not allow it. She reached down quietly and cautiously, waiting for something to spring out at her either human or inhuman. But as she pulled upon the doors, she discovered that they were apparently locked from the inside. She then ripped the doors open easily with her vampire strength. Immediately the stench of death and decay assaulted her senses. It would be bad enough if she were still human, but her enhanced sense of smell made it a hundred times worse. But as the first rays of the rising sun threatened to creep up behind her she realized that she had no choice as she ducked down inside and closed the doors behind her.

There was zero visibility once the doors were closed, but as a vampire, Abby's eye sight was tailor made for the dark. She crept down a few scant steps to discover the source of the smell that repulsed her. From a support beam hung a body. Someone who had seemingly committed suicide by hanging them self, it wasn't the first time that Abby had encountered such a sight. There were many who simply couldn't come to grips with the nightmarish new world that they found themselves in. The body before her barely had any flesh left on it, suggesting that it had long since decomposed and had been here for many years. Abby assumed that the closed off cellar had succeeded in keeping the odor in that would have otherwise dissipated long ago. On a wall nearby the individual had written something in their own blood.

"God forgive me."

Picking a spot as far away from the body as possible, she settled in to sleep for the day.

xxxxxxxxxx

With the sun barely down behind the mountains Abby emerged from the storm cellar and continued on her way. Passing beyond the property line of the several hundred acre farm and back into the deep woods once more. She was getting close now, she could feel it. His scent was much stronger now. It was only a matter of time before she found what she had been searching for, for so long. As she traveled along the sound of approaching footsteps caught her ears as she sprang up into a tree. She now sat perched on a limb a good fifty feet off of the ground as the source of the footsteps drew closer and finally revealed itself.

A man who looked to be in his fifties in a ball cap and flannel coat came walking through the woods carrying what appeared to be a young girl in his arms.

_Another broken family perhaps?_

But when the man reached the edge of a nearby river, he tossed the girl's body into it, discarding it like so much trash. Abby could smell both fresh and dried blood…along with semen. Abby immediately knew what she was dealing with.

_No…a rape gang._

There were allot of harsh realities to come to terms with in this post apocalyptic world. And as terrible as the vampires were, some humans at times proved themselves to be far more monstrous. Among the many perils faced by unwary travelers outside the safety of the colonies were murderers, thieves, cannibals…and rape gangs.

After the man departed she flew down to where the girl's body was. There was profuse amounts of blood coming from her crotch and a deep would in her neck. They had apparently cut her throat when they were finished with her. Abby boiled with rage, the girl was barely older than she was back when she was still human.

It was time to take a detour.

Back at their camp site the men were understandably surprised when Abby casually and nonchalantly strolled in. She quickly took inventory of the situation. Three men, sitting around a campfire on rotted logs armed with what appeared to be bladed weapons.

"Well what have we here?" The one that had dumped the body spoke up as he looked Abby over.

"Fresh meat, that's what?" The second chimed in.

"So uh, where are your folks kid?" The first one asked.

"Who the fuck cares!" The third shouted.

"Shut up you damn fool, they might be nearby!" The first chastised him.

Abby said nothing.

"Are ya okay kid? Are ya hungry?"

"I'd like to feed her something." The second gloated grabbing at his crotch.

Abby remained silent. Her response was to quietly walk over to the one who had first spoke to her and drop to her knees in front of him as she started to unbuckle his pants.

"Oh Hell yeah! Now you're talkin! Looks like this one's been around the block a few times guys!"

"Party time! Now this one I am definitely going to fuck in the ass." The third declared.

"You can have her ass, long as I get to cum down her throat." The second proclaimed.

Meanwhile Abby already had the first man's pants open and his cock out. He shuddered all over when she took him into her mouth. His groan of ecstasy however suddenly turned into a bloodcurdling scream as she bit down. Abby then wrenched her head up revealing the countenance of the vampire once more as she snarled. As she ripped his penis from him a jet of blood sprayed across her face. The man fell backwards shrieking as he clutched at his blood gushing pelvis. Abby then stood back up and with virulent disgust spat his severed sex organ into their campfire.

"What the fuck?" The second yelled as he sprang up rushing toward her with a machete in hand.

Abby though effortlessly caught his swing with her left hand as she got a firm grip upon his neck with her right. She then tore his arm clean out of its socket before throwing him back into a tree. The third lunged with a pair of bowie knives in each hand only to have his friend's machete buried halfway into the side of his skull. Meanwhile, the man who had literally been disarmed tried to flee only to have Abby fly after him. A split second later the wet sounds of tearing flesh and popping bones signified his spine being torn out of his back. Now only one remained. The first one who had been unfortunate enough to feel Abby's wrath tried desperately to crawl away, but there was no chance of him escaping her as she slowly floated after him.

"No! No please don't kill me!" He begged as he turned to face her still lying upon the ground.

"How many girls have begged for their lives as you molested them?" She taunted in a demonic voice as she bore down upon him.

He drew a knife only to have her smack it away. He then threw his hands up in front of himself in an instinctive defensive gesture as Abby grabbed both of them.

"And how many throats have you cut with these hands?" She asked as she then crushed the phalanges in his fingers to powder as he let out another wail of agonized misery.

She was about to finish him off when she suddenly stopped. She tilted her head up and off to one side. Her enhanced senses were picking up on something. She began to slowly turn her head this way and that as she sniffed the air. She then looked back down at her would be victim.

"P-please…I'm be-begging you…do-don't kill me." He sobbed.

Then…she released him.

"I won't have to." She told him as she slowly backed away.

It was then that he heard them. Sounds that could mean the approach of only one thing…ferals.

From the darkness they crept as they surrounded him. There was no where for him to go. His screams echoed into the night as they tore him to pieces.

xxxxxxxxxxx

The following night.

At last…she had found him…her precious Owen.

She watched him closely from a distance downwind, being sure to remain completely still and quiet as he sniffed the air. He rumbled and growled at even the slightest sound turning this way and that.

It was a little over six years ago that he was turned. Back when the epidemic first began. They had been on the run having only been gone from Los Alamos for a few months at best. She remembered him begging her to turn him, and her own stubborn rebuttal at the time. But when the ferals attacked, that choice was taken from them both. They had just hopped off of a train somewhere in Texas when a large group of them beset the two. Abby fought bravely to protect Owen, but in the end there were just too many of them. In her fury she slaughtered them all. But too little too late, Owen had been bitten. She remembered crying as she held his lifeless body in her arms and she also remembered when he reawaked as one of them. She knew what she needed to do, what she should have done, what she could have done, kill Owen, to spare him this tortured existence. But when push came to shove…she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

So she let him go. A choice she now regretted, but none of that mattered now. There was a part of her that just wanted to rush up and hug him. But as a feral she knew that he would either flee or attack her. She was just so overjoyed to see him again after so many long years, even in his current state.

But her joy quickly turned to fear as she watched what appeared to be a pack of hungry wolves suddenly surround him. Since ferals were capable of drinking animal blood, their quickly expanding numbers combined with the scarcity of human prey was starting to result in a great loss of wildlife all across the planet. This wolf pack was practically starving to death, and anything that moved, even a foul tasting feral, was considered fair game.

They were seconds away from pouncing when Abby came down in the center of them. She snarled and hissed menacingly, but in their currently famished state, the pack was ready to try and bring down just about anything. Owen turned to regard her, considering that normally any feral would attack her on site, but like Abby at the moment he was more concerned about the wolves. All at once they lunged. Abby caught the first snapping its neck as others grabbed onto various limbs and began mauling them. Though Owen as a feral was not as strong as Abby was he could still fiercely defend himself as his own teeth ripped out the throat of one of the them. Abby meanwhile took two of them that were latched onto her arms and slammed their heads together shattering their skulls. Owen not too far away broke the neck of another as he wrapped his arms around it. He turned however to have one of them lock their jaws onto his neck as Abby spun around. With three other wolves still attached to her Abby still managed to get over to Owen and get a firm grip on the one that had a hold of him. She took a hind leg in each hand and then tore the animal in half practically up the middle as Owen was finally able to pry its head off of his throat. Abby then punched her fist into the gut of one of the wolves still on her as she ripped out its intestines and then crushed the skull of another with her bare hands. Owen caved in the skull of yet another with a large rock as Abby tore off the bottom jaw of one more. What remained of the pack decided it had had enough as it took of running back into the forest.

Abby then turned to see Owen feeding voraciously from the jugular of one of the wolves as he drained the life blood from its body. He then dropped it and howled in an animalistic fashion baring his rows of sharp teeth as he lifted his head up towards the sky. Having now fed and the immediate threat over, Owen finally turned his attention to Abby taking a defensive stance as he let out a low growl.

Though they were both exhausted from the battle and had suffered grievous injuries, Abby knew that she couldn't let him escape her again. As he tried to bolt away she lunged tackling him down, her teeth penetrating deep into his neck as he fought and struggled in vain. When she finally released him he took off running, but only made it a couple of miles before collapsing as the two different strains of vampire contagion fought for dominance within his blood stream. As a result his entire body pretty much shut down as he toppled over. Abby quickly found his unconscious body and scooped him up in her arms. She took refuge in a long since vacated bear cave.

xxxxxxxxx

A few hours later he awakened but seemed rather ill. He was only semiconcious at best and rendered an invalid. For several weeks thereafter Owen remained in a daze and with a burning fever. Probably a result of the two differing vampire infections battling for biological control of Owen's body. But regardless of his condition he still needed to feed. Abby began with animal blood, which worked for about two weeks until one night his body suddenly started to reject it. This gave Abby hope that perhaps her idea was going to work after all. Also, his previously sharp protruding rows of teeth and veiny skin had disappeared as well. Two more weeks passed before he finally awakened enough to be remotely coherent.

He gradually turned his head to see Abby staring down at him...but there was no recognition in his eyes.

"Owen?"

Finally, he spoke.

"Wh-who are you?" He muttered in an exhausted manner.

"Owen, it's me Abby? Don't you remember me?"

"...n-no."

In that moment, Abby's heart broke into a million pieces as she started to tear up. Suddenly, even though Owen was right there with her, she was all alone once again.

"Wha-what's going on...whe-where am I? Momma?" He said in a stupor.

"It's okay, ju-just go back to sleep. Try to get some rest." Abby sobbed as she reached out gently carressing Owen's head as he dozed back off.

Abby then slowly got up and walked outside of the cave. She only made it a few steps before the weight of the emotions that were ripping at her insides brought her to her knees. She let out an inhuman wail of despair that could be heard for miles upon miles. When she was finished the tears returned once more.

_After everything that I went through...after all of these years...he doesn't even remember me._

Shortly after this incident, Owen abruptly slipped into a coma that lasted for three days strait.

But on the night of the fourth day...

Owen's eyes slowly fluttered open as he jolted awake in a panic. Though where he was was pitch black, he discovered that he could see as clearly as if it were broad daylight. He spun around to see Abby standing there. She waited with baited breath for a response of any kind.

"…..Ab-Abby?" He muttered.

"Owen!" She cried as they threw her arms around each other as they both started to cry.

_He remembers me? Yes he does!_

At long last…they had been reunited. Thankfully, it seemed that the amnesia that Owen suffered from before was only temporary. Abby had no idea if her plan ever had any chance of working. In truth she was just as surprised as Owen was when she heard him speak her name. The sun had started to set now and Abby had awakened from her slumber first as she waited impatiently for Owen to do the same. She had been sitting there for a solid hour, each minute a painstaking eternity unto itself as she waited to see if it had worked or if a snarling feral would be all that greeted her when he finally awoke.

After Owen had been turned all of those years ago, Abby had wandered aimlessly for an undetermined amount of time, without purpose. Granted she had been alone before, but after experiencing the kind of love and joy that Owen had given her, to suddenly lose him was almost more than she could bear.

But then, a staggering revelation came.

She found herself near one of the makeshift outdoor hospitals that ran off of gas generators. The ones that were set up after the main power grids began to fail all across the country as cities fell into chaos and anarchy. They reminded Abby of the old clinics that existed back when she was still human, before the advent of electric power. Though still a great distance away she could still hear and see everything that was transpiring with pinpoint accuracy. One of the ferals had been strapped down to a gurney with heavy chains, nothing else would hold them. Several experiments were being ran as both doctors and scientists scrambled to find a cure for the vampire infection. They however had learned some interesting things along the way. Humans suffering from terminal illnesses like cancer or A.I.D.S. who were turned suddenly had no traces of their former diseases. The vampire virus apparently neutralizing whatever ailments they had been suffering from when they were human.

That was when it hit her.

For vampires of her kind, age equaled power. The older a vampire was, the stronger it was.

_What if I bit Owen? Would my infection be strong enough to overpower the feral virus?_

It was a desperate hope…a fleeting hope…but it was all that she needed.

She raced back to where Owen had last been, picking up his scent and proceeding to trail it. It was far from easy however. As savage as these new vampires were, they did posses a pack mentality. As such, Owen had joined such a pack. The pack in question migrated across the country in constant search of food and it had taken Abby all of these years to catch up to them.

It seemed that they were always just one step ahead of her. But Abby didn't care. It wouldn't matter to her if it took a hundred years to find him again. Time had no meaning to one who lived forever.

But lady luck decided to smile down upon her.

The pack one fateful night about two weeks ago had bitten off more than it could chew when it engaged a well armed group of humans that almost succeeded in wiping them out. Abby came across the aftermath fearing the worst. But detected the scents of two ferals that had survived and fled the scene…one of them had been Owen. Without the pack that he had come to depend on Owen moved about the countryside in a rather confused state, unsure of where he should go. This had given Abby the chance to catch up to him at last.

And that time…had finally come.

After all the pain, the hardships, the loneliness. Finally she had the one thing in her life that gave her a reason to go on living, the only thing that had kept her going these past few years. She knew that Owen was going to have many questions. She also knew that life for them was going to be far from easy. But whether they survived for another century or just another week, at least they were together again.

And for the moment, that was all that mattered.


	2. Baby Steps

I want to give a shout out to realbullet, DavidZahir and TorontoBatFan, who helped me fine tune these chapters. :)

x

Okay, by popular demand I have continued this. However, whereas the first chapter was very dark, violent, gory and full of disturbing material, this chapter is a total departure in comparison. Whether that's good or bad I guess will depend on what reviewers say.

X

Secondly, there is atleast one scene that may bother some folks. Now I know that some readers don't like the idea of Abby and Owen having sex. I tried to write it from the standpoint of a curious 12 year old who has active hormones but isn't quite sure what to do about them. Hopefully no one will be too offended by it.

X

Abby and Owen had taken daytime refuge in a sewage tunnel on the outskirts of one of the colonies.

It was quite possibly the foulest place that she had ever slept in her very long existence…and she couldn't care less.

Snuggled in her arms was her beloved Owen. Though time generally meant little to Abby, the six years she had been without him had been the longest and most laborious of her life. Deep in their slumber they both wore contented smiles. Even though they were both for all intents and purposes dead to the world, they could somehow feel and sense one another. Abby's grip on Owen was like a vise, it was as if she was afraid of losing him again if she loosened or let go.

Finally the setting sun signaled the end of their slumber as Owen's eyes fluttered open. He discovered though that Abby was already awake as she smiled back at him.

"Hey there gorgeous." She said with a positively glowing smile.

"Heeeeey." He grinned back awkwardly with a yawn, "I can't remember the last time I slept that good."

"Insomnia isn't something that vampires have to worry about. The sleep instinct is a powerful one for our kind."

"How long have you been awake?"

"About an hour maybe."

"So you've just been laying here staring at me the whole time?"

"Can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing." She smiled again.

They both started giggling as she leaned in and rubbed her nose against his in an Eskimo kiss.

Sometime later...

"So for six years, I was one of them?"

"Yes. You seem surprised."

"I guess I didn't expect to ever wake up again. I figured you would kill me when I turned."

"I almost did…but I just couldn't do it."

"So…you let me go?"

"Yes."

"That means that I…that I…killed people?" Owen said with much dread.

"It wasn't you Owen, not at that point, not anymore."

"Their blood is still on my hands."

"Your hands maybe, but not your mind. The virus took you, made you a feral. You stopped being Owen from that moment forward."

"You make it sound so simple."

"It has to be goddamnit!" Abby cursed catching Owen off guard as he flinched looking over at her.

Then she broke down and started to cry as Owen walked over and hugged her. She buried her face into his shoulder as she wept.

"This is supposed to be the part where I try to console you for all of the people that you killed as a feral. Where I try to make you not feel guilty." She began as she continued to sob, "But I just don't care! It wouldn't have mattered to me if you murdered a million people! All that mattered to me was finding you again! Do you have any idea how much I've needed you all of these long years?"

"A-Abby…I had no idea."

"I love you Owen, I always have. I just don't care about anything else. Maybe that makes me a terrible, selfish person, but I just don't care."

Owen said nothing else. In that moment he realized just what kind of hell Abby had gone through to be with him again. She was right, the past was pointless, what was done was done, and all of the remorse in the world would not undo it. It was time to think of the here and now.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Once they had both awakened they left the sewer pipe and got as far away from the colony as possible. The first order of the day, a bath! God knows after spending the night in a sewer as well as running around the forest like a wild animal for six years strait, Owen could kill a skunk at fifty paces if he wanted to. Truth be told, Abby didn't smell much better either and decided that she should do the same. With that they opted for a dip in a nearby lake. Owen literally gasped when Abby stripped down to her birthday suit right in front of him as he quickly spun around looking away with a face redder than a tomato. All Abby did though was laugh, thinking back to when she first slipped into his bed in Los Alamos.

"Owen, it's okay."

"Um, I um, uh…" He started stuttering uncomfortably.

Deep down Owen had feelings for Abby that went beyond friendship, that was a no brainer, but he wasn't quite sure how to process it all and figure out how he should react. The sad truth was, most of what Owen had learned about the birds and the bees came from spying on his neighbors back in Los Alamos. As far as his mother was concerned even talking about such things was an unforgivable sin. So to say that Owen's education on the subject was somewhat stunted would be an understatement.

Abby could see that this was awkward for him and quickly slipped into the water.

"It's okay, you can look now." She called out to him.

Finally he turned and exhaled but was then hesitant to get out of his own clothes.

"Um, Abby? Could you uh…" He started to say.

With a giggle she closed her eyes and put her hands over them as Owen took off his clothes and got into the water. But once he was in there Abby swam over to him. As Abby slipped her arms around him he shuddered. Though they had been on the run from Los Alamos for about six months when the feral outbreak began, a situation like this had never developed before now. They had hugged, kissed and cuddled a plenty, but for both of them, intimacy of any kind was something far more…innocent. But as Abby's body pressed up against Owen's he felt a strange sensation building down below that he couldn't explain. Owen's hands meanwhile began to rub across Abby's body in a combination of both desire and curosity, even though he had no idea what he should do outside of simple touching. Owen's tiny manhood grew firm as it brushed against Abby's body in the water. She looked at him when it touched her and suddenly he turned away in shame. But Abby just smiled as she reached up and turned Owen's face back to look at her. He was needless to say surprised by her expression. There was no anger or judgment in her eyes, only softness, with an ever kinder and softer smile. Abby then slid her hand down the front of him beneath the water. He gasped when she took hold of him.

"Abby?" He murmured in an unsure fashion.

"It's okay." She reassured him as she started to stroke him, "You'll like it...it'll feel good."

just a few short seconds later he cried out gripping Abby tightly as he buried his face into her shoulder.

Owen had never had an orgasm before, though most boys generally started masturbating at around Owen's age or sooner, his rather overprotected and religious upbringing had curbed his development in certain ways. Abby on the other hand could not say the same unfortunately. Previous caretakers who were not as kind as Thomas had sometimes asked for or demanded things that she wished they hadn't. Normally the whole idea of sex and anything to do with it turned her stomach because of her terrible past experiences. But with Owen, it was different, she liked how she felt when she was close to him. When Owen had finally caught his breath he lifted his head and looked at her with a confused but at the same time almost glowing appearance.

"Wha-what just happened?" He stammered.

"We'll talk about it later." She said reassuringly as she leaned in and kissed him.

Shortly after…

"The first thing that we need to do is help fine tune your speed, agility and reflexes." She told him.

"How do we do-" SMACK! "Ow!"

"Tag! You're it!" Abby squealed as she leaped up into the trees.

"Oh you are sooo gonna get it!" He said as he took off after her.

As Owen gave chase through the tree limbs behind her a good thirty feet off the ground, Abby continuously looked over her shoulder at him to see how he was doing. Owen looked to be taking to his new abilities like a fish to water as he sprang and bounced from tree to tree like a wild chimpanzee…that is until he landed on a branch that would not support his weight.

As it snapped beneath him he plummeted down and landed squarely on his rump. Abby laughed as she flew down to where he was. Owen got back up rubbing his rear end with a slightly embarrassed expression.

"Not bad for your first try."

"When will I be able to fly like you?"

"Truthfully, it took me years to master that."

"Years? Ah man!"

"What are you complaining about? It's not like either of us are getting any older." She reminded him.

"Oh yeah." He said suddenly feeling rather dumb.

"Ready to try it again?" She asked.

"You bet! Only this time I am going to catch you."

"Promises, promises." She taunted him as she jumped up into the trees once more.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Sometime later Abby was busy training Owen for something else very important. Tied to a tree with a heavy chain like a dog on a leash was a feral, snapping and growling. Abby had managed to take it alive and restrain it.

"Are you ready, Owen?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." He replied with a sigh.

Abby could tell how nervous he was.

"It'll be alright Owen, you can do this. Be brave, just like I asked you to be all of those years ago."

Abby then moved in quickly and broke the chain before leaping up into a tree. The feral would attack whatever the closest moving thing was, which right now was Owen as it charged forward howling and shrieking. It moved with allot more speed than Owen thought it would as it tackled him down hard. Abby watched carefully, ready to swoop down at the first sign of real trouble. Though she wanted Owen to learn how to defend himself, she didn't want anything to happen to him either.

"Don't let it bite you!" Abby called down to him.

Abby had no idea what would happen if Owen was bitten by a feral again, and she had no desire to find out. Owen was technically stronger than the feral, but the mad beast made up for its inferior muscle with sheer ferocity that had caught Owen off guard. He struggled with the creature placing his forearm against its throat to keep its teeth at bay as they rolled around on the ground.

"Don't let it intimidate you, these things smell fear! Remember that you're stronger than he is!" She shouted.

Finally Owen shoved the feral off sending it flying back as it smacked into a tree, but undaunted it rushed forward once more. But this time Owen sidestepped it.

"Good! Use your reflexes, you're faster than him too!" She called out as Owen scooped up a felled tree limb.

As the feral turned Owen smashed it over its head reducing the wood to splinters. It got back up again, but not quite as fast as it revealed a gaping hole in its now cracked skull.

"Holy crap!" Owen blurted out taking a step back.

"Remember Owen, no fear! If you want to kill it you have to either completely crush the skull or break its neck!"

The feral suddenly grabbed Owen lifting him off the ground, still moving in a slower manner that suggested possible brain damage from Owen's attack with the tree limb. Once at eye level with it Owen heaved back and headbutted it in the face as it fell to its knees. Now at a managable height Owen darted in and wrapped his right arm around its neck in a headlock as the feral struggled in his grasp.

"Place the inside crook of your elbow joint up into its chin, squeeze hard and twist it to your right!"

Owen did as instructed as he could hear the abrupt sounds of snapping and crunching vertebrae. After this its body went limp as Owen let it drop onto the ground.

"Did…did I kill it?" Owen asked cautiously, not really interested in getting any closer than he needed to.

"Yes you did." Abby said coming down out of the tree, "Well done."

"Gosh, that wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be."

"Don't get too cocky. A lone feral really isn't anything for us to have to worry about, but in packs or herds they are far more dangerous."

"Herds? How much bigger is a herd compared to a pack?"

"Hundreds."

Owen gulped nervously.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

As dawn approached Abby and Owen bedded down for the day in the basement of an abandoned house. As they snuggled up close to one another Owen felt a need to break the silence.

"Abby?"

"Yea."

"Do you think it will be a problem?"

"What?"

"Finding food."

"Don't worry about it, we'll manage."

"But you told me that there weren't nearly as many people left as their used to be, right?"

"Relax Owen, I did alright for six years didn't I?"

Granted in truth, Abby was making far lighter of their situation than it really was. There had been some close calls for her during that time, times she had nearly starved to death, but she didn't want to worry Owen any more than he already was.

"Yeah, but that was just you, now there's two of us."

"Well, be fine, you'll see. Try to get some sleep okay."

After a long pause Owen finally replied…"Okay."

That night…

Abby awoke to discover that Owen was not lying next to her. Somewhat alarmed she quickly left the house and followed his scent back into the woods. When she finally found him she discovered that he had managed to chase down a deer and was feeding from it.

"Owen stop!" She shouted, but it was too late as he spun away from the animal and began retching in all directions as the blood he had just tried to force down his own gullet vomited itself back up.

He hit the ground convulsing as Abby ran to his side, shortly after he passed out.

He awakened sometime later in Abby's arms, he opened his eyes to see her looking down upon him with concern.

"Uh, I'm guessing my plan didn't work?" He mumbled.

"Plan? What plan?"

"I remembered what you said about how it wasn't very easy to find food anymore. So I figured that since I used to be a, what did you call them again?"

"Ferals."

"Yea, I figured maybe I could still drink animal blood. That way you would only have to worry about finding human prey for yourself and not the both of us."

"I see what you were trying to do Owen, but please don't pull a stunt like that again. Anything but human blood will be poisonous to you now."

"Uh yeah, I kinda figured that out." He said rather abashedly as he carefully got back up wobbling slightly as he did so, "What about the deer? Is it going to turn into a vampire deer or something?"

"No. For reasons that I really can't explain, our infection kills animals." Abby told him.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The following night Abby had asked Owen to remain behind where they had slept that day while she went to find food. Soon enough she returned with a rather large but motionless man in her grasp decked out in camo gear.

Owen looked at Abby with confusion.

"Who is this?"

"He's a straggler that I snagged him from a scavenging patrol."

"Scavenging patrol?"

"Yes, the larger colonies have to send groups out to find supplies to keep their towns running. As they continue to clean out everything in the surrounding areas they're forced to travel farther away which makes it easier and safer to go after them."

"Were you spotted?"

"No. Though the groups are usually well trained and armed, it's always ferals that they're keeping an eye out for, not something coming down out of the sky."

"So they still don't know that vampires like us exist?"

"No. Even before all of this happened I had only encountered a couple others of my kind in my travels, there are probably even less now that the ferals have risen."

"So are you going to feed on him?"

"No…you are."

Abby noticed the uncertainty in Owen's eyes.

"Owen this is what you are now, and you must feed. After what happened with the deer you lost what little blood you had in you."

"Um, it-it's okay. I'm fine, really."

"Owen, we both know better than that. I can see the hunger building in you already."

"Is…is he dead?"

"No, just unconscious."

"Unconscious, why?"

"Only fresh blood from a living person can sustain us. When a person dies something starts to happen to their blood that makes it to where we can't use it."

"I…I don't know if I can."

"Then I'll make it easy for you." She said as she let the would be victim's body lean towards him until Owen was very close to his neck.

Immediately Abby saw a change in Owen as the thirst took a stronger hold on him. He could hear and smell the blood pumping through the man's veins, it was intoxicating.

"A=Abby?" Owen stuttered, afraid of what he was feeling.

"It's okay Owen." She reassured him as he took the man's body into his arms, his now salivating mouth only inches away from the jugular vein.

The truth was he was starving, but he had been trying very hard to hide it from Abby, even though he knew it was pointless to do so. Her senses were far more keener than his and she probably realized the hunger was upon him before even he did. None the less he looked back up at Abby one last time as if unsure.

"Go ahead…it's alright."

Unable to restrain himself any longer Owen vamped out. His eyes turning yellow as he teeth buried themselves deep into the man's neck. Abby circled around Owen and gently rubbed his back as he fed, it seemed to calm him as he did so.

When he had finished, it was as if a fog had been lifted from his mind. He was suddenly himself again. But with that came the horrifying realization of what he had done as he began to panic. Abby quickly grabbed him and held him tight as he started to shake.

"Shhhhh, it's okay, it's okay." She spoke softly and gently into his left ear as they both slowly sank down into a sitting position on the ground.

"Wha-what have I done?" Owen murmured with tears in his eyes.

"What you had to, nothing more, nothing less." Abby said as she pressed his head against her chest and rested her chin atop it.

Abby knew how hard this had to be for Owen. He had basically just killed a man and it was going to be difficult for him to handle. But she intended to make his transition to being a vampire as easy as she could. Eventually he stopped shaking as she caressed him, her touch was relaxing and soothing as he allowed himself to melt into her arms.

When she had finally calmed him she slowly reached out and grabbed the man's head giving it a sharp twist.

"I'm gonna have to learn how to do that aren't I." He said.

"Yes…in time, when you're ready."

Abby had no intention of rushing him.

"_Baby steps." _She thought.

Owen then finally stood back up as he looked down at the man's now lifeless corpse.

"What's wrong Owen?" Abby asked as she got back up as well.

"Just wondering. What his name was? What he did before all of this? If he…had a family."

"You can't think that way Owen. We are what we are now. We need to feed, it's as simple as that."

"It doesn't feel simple."

"At first it won't. I went through the same things you did Owen when I was first turned and was feeding for the first time. But eventually I got past it and so will you."

"What if I don't?"

"You have to."

"Why?"

"Because if you don't? If you try to ignore your hunger and start to starve yourself, the demon inside will eventually take over and take what it needs. At that point it won't care where the blood comes from."

"Meaning?"

"The first time that I tried to go without feeding I made it about four weeks before my mind literally shut down."

"What happened?"

"The part of me that could think and feel pretty much turned off."

"So you became like one of the ferals?"

"Yes, at least until I was able to feed."

"And after you came to?"

"I awoke with the body of a dead infant in my arms." Abby confessed with horror that Owen shared as he shuddered at the thought.

"That is why you need to feed Owen, Better that you can pick and choose your victims, preferably scumbags like the rape gangs or bandits, or if nothing else adults in general. Another danger is that when you go animalistic from the hunger, all common sense and better judgment go right out the window. You'll charge right in to one of the heavily armed colonies if you're hungry enough and more than likely get killed in the process. Do you understand?"

"Ye-yeah." He stuttered.

"I'm sorry Owen, I know that this is hard to hear, but it's just the way that it is."

Owen sighed before speaking again.

"Maybe I was a better off as a feral."

He waited for a response from Abby but none came. He looked up at her to see her bottom lip quivering and her eyes filling with tears as she gazed at him with a face full of hurt. Suddenly Owen realized how what he said must've sounded.

"Oh no no no that's not what I meant!" Owen blurted out desperately as he reached out and threw his arms around her, "I just meant that Ferals don't think or feel, they don't have a conscience about who they kill, that's what I meant." He explained as Abby started to cry.

Owen watched as Abby went from a staunch teacher training him on how to survive in this harsh new world to a vulnerable twelve year old girl.

"I thought you were saying that you were sorry that I turned you." She whimpered.

"Never! I will never be able to thank you enough for searching for me these past six years and turning me. I mean that! It was the second happiest moment of my life."

"The second? What was the first?"

"The day I met you." He replied with a warm smile that made Abby's heart flutter as Owen reached up and wiped the tears from her face, "I'm sorry I hurt your feelings."

"It's okay, I just misunderstood you." She said as they knelt in close and shared an innocent kiss.

xxxxxxxxxxx

X

X

I'm marking this story as in progress. But I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it next. But anyways that's it for the time being anyhow.


	3. The Curse That Cures

Abby and Owen were traveling near Yellowstone National Park, holding hands as they went when Owen proposed a crazy idea.

"Abby?"

"Yea."

"I was just thinking about something."

"What?"

"Well, if you managed to cure me of the feral infection, could it cure other ferals too?"

"I guess so, maybe? Owen what are you suggesting? That I try to turn all of the ferals we meet into vampires like us?"

"No, no, no, I don't mean that. What I mean is that what if something in you could be used to make a cure?"

"A cure? Like what?"

"What about your blood? Or something else maybe?"

"Yes, but only to turn you into a different kind of vampire."

"Yes I know, but what if a doctor or scientist type person were to get a hold of your blood? Someone who knows how to look at it and mess with stuff like that? Maybe they could make a cure from it that would make people human again, or maybe people could take something that would protect them from feral bites or something?"

"Well, I don't honestly know. Truth is I've been so focused on finding you these past several years that I haven't really thought about anything else."

"Do you think that it's worth a shot, if the world could go back to the way it was before?"

"I suppose it would be."

"So what should we do?"

"I guess I would need to find a way to get some of my blood to one of the colonies that has a decent lab or if nothing else a good hospital."

"Do you know which ones do?"

"I'm afraid not. I've observed several of the colonies from a distance but have never been in them."

"Well, how about we pick the closest one and try to get in?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much the only choice we have.", Abby then pulled out a wadded up map that she carried with her, it was one that she had drawn herself during the process of her travels over the years across the country, "The colony that we slept in the sewer drain of was Shangri-La, it is pretty much the closest one to us."

Owen marveled curiously at the map she had made.

"So you know where all of the colonies are? You have them all on here?"

"Well, probably not all of them, but every single one that I've encountered is on here."

"What are these red areas you have marked, where all of the major cities are?"

"Radiation zones."

"Radiation zones?"

"Yes. When all else failed in regards to stopping the spread of the feral virus the government started using nukes on the big cities where the ferals were the most congested in the beginning."

"Did it work?"

"At the time yes, they put a big dent in the feral population, but it was only a short term fix. The ferals repopulate so fast that within about a year their numbers were back up to where they were once again. We need to be sure to avoid these places."

"Why, can radiation hurt us?"

"No, but there's no food in the big cities any more, nothing left that is still human. That plus, while I handle radioactive fallout just fine, I have learned firsthand that trying to feed on a person with radiation sickness doesn't end well."

"Made you sick?"

"Laid me up for a week strait before I fully recovered."

"Yikes. So then, I guess we're heading back to Shangri-La then?"

"Yes."

xxxxxxxxxxx

Abby and Owen began their trek back to the town in question, it was going to take a few days, and they would both need to feed again before they got there. But Abby already had that figured out. Now that she was reunited with Owen again, her movements were not being dictated solely by his formerly erratic wanderings as a feral anymore, which would sometimes lead her away from places were she knew she could find prey. She pulled out her map and pointed to him an area that she had marked rather fittingly if not bluntly, 'Where the crazy people live'.

"Crazy people?" Owen said with a cocked eyebrow.

"It's where a religious cult lives that kills anyone who crosses into their land without joining their ranks. I've fed on some of them before. It'll be easy to pick off a couple of border guards. They sit in these makeshift towers that are meant to protect them from ferals but also happen to make them perfect for me to snag them."

"Okay." Owen replied with a great deal of trepidation.

"Trust me Owen, when you see these so-called people, you won't feel nearly so bad about eating them. I've watched then do terrible things." She assured him.

xxxxxxxxxxx

At the encampment of the cult that called themselves 'The Hand Of God' a family unfortunate enough to have traveled into their territory had been captured and were now tied to large wooden posts in the ground. The family consisted of three, a man, a woman and what appeared to be a small boy, in the faintly torch lit darkness their proper features could not be ascertained. Gathered around them were several men dressed in dark hooded robes, it was they who wielded the torches, one of them then stepped forward and turned to address the others.

"Behold the nonbelievers my brothers and sisters! They who dare to trespass on the lands of God's chosen children!" The cult leader proclaimed to his countless followers as they looked on.

"Ple-please! Just let us go! We didn't mean to trespass! We were just trying to get to the sanctuary of Shangri-La!" The father of the family begged.

"So you admit to wishing to throw in with the miserable lot of those who dwell there? Those Godless heathens who spit in the face of our holy father just by living and breathing?"

"You're crazy!"

"And what is insanity truly? Who is crazy? Those who see the world for what it is and answer the creator's call? Or those who choose to be blinded by sin?"

"Please! I'm begging you! If you must keep someone then keep me, but let my family go!" The father pleaded as he looked over at his wife and seven year old son.

"Your pleas for mercy come too late sinner. You are damned…along with your family." The cultist declared as he then walked away and gave a silent nod to another cult member who was holding a torch.

He then knelt down and used it to light pyres placed at the family's feet as they began to burn. They died screaming in hellish misery as the flames consumed their bodies. From some distance away Abby and Owen watched what was transpiring unseen.

"See? What do you think now?" Abby whispered.

"I think I'm getting hungry." Owen growled angrily.

Owen started to get up, Abby turned, she could see the fury in his eyes as she quickly grabbed his arm.

"No, Owen."

"But we just can't stand by and do nothing."

"I share your anger towards them, but you need to remember that humans in large numbers can be just as dangerous as ferals, especially when they are all trained to kill vampires. Just take comfort in the fact that our feeding will be helping to take out the trash."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

As Abby predicted it was a simple matter of grabbing two of the border guards. As she flew down she simultaneously knocked one of them cold as she snatched him out of his perch. Another guard at an adjacent post quickly turned at the sounds but saw nothing.

"Nathan? Nathan are you there? Stop dicking around man, what are you doing over there?" He called out.

But in the midst of his distraction, he did not see Abby flying up behind him silently.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Here." Abby said as she laid one of the bodies at Owen's feet.

Owen proceeded to pick it up and moved his face in close to the neck as he hesitated for a moment. Owen then closed his eyes. When he did, he saw the face of the seven year old boy screaming as the flesh was literally melted off of his tiny body. When Owen reopened his eyes there were yellow. He then snarled as he dug his teeth into the guard's jugular vein. Abby followed suit shortly after.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"We should go in there and make them all pay." Owen said angrily after they had finished feeding.

"I know how you feel Owen, but these cultists are a valuable food source for us. Just like the other degenerates that roam the land. Though they do indeed deserve to die, if we kill them out of spite then we will be depriving ourselves of much needed prey. Try to remember that. C'mon, we need to get going."

xxxxxxxxxxx

After a couple of more days they found themselves not too far from Shangri-La. But it was only about an hour and a half until dawn and they needed to tend to other concerns.

"We'll bed down here for the day." Abby said.

"What? Here? But we're in the middle of the woods? We're right out in the open, no shelter."

"There's no shelter anywhere nearby actually, at least not anything that we can get to before the sun rises."

"So what do we do?" Owen asked slightly panicked.

"It's alright Owen. We'll just dig a sleeping pit."

"A sleeping pit?"

"Yes, we'll dig a hole deep in the earth and then bury ourselves under the loose soil that we dig up. That will protect us from the sunlight."

"So we'll be just like vampires from the movies? Cool!" Owen squealed.

Abby shook her head with a chuckle at Owen's enthusiasm. She was glad that the terrible things that he had been forced to endure had not completely robbed him of his childlike mannerisms and innocence.

"C'mon, if you help me dig it we'll get done twice as fast." She told him as they got to work.

They finished with about a half hour to spare as they submerged themselves into a hole about six feet deep. Owen however was learning that being underground wasn't nearly as 'cool' as he thought it would be.

"Argh! How does Christopher Lee do it?" He grumbled.

"I think the movies make being a vampire look allot more glamorous than it actually is Owen." She told him with a slight laugh.

But any gripes that Owen may have had ceased when Abby practically wrapped herself around him in their makeshift bed of dirt. In her arms he almost started purring like a kitten. Soon enough the sun rose and they both drifted off to sleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The next night they finally made it out of the forest and reached the outskirts of Shangri-La. They were now moving through what appeared to be at one time a suburb of the former town of St. Anthony, Idaho, only it was deserted with wrecked vehicles, garbage and signs of the chaos that had first gripped the world when the ferals first attacked everywhere. In the distance they could see the colony in question, it was surrounded by a great wall made of brick with no other entry point but a main gate that was fenced off. Armed guards stood by there with dogs along side them. They looked to be regular civilians from their clothes, but there was nothing civilian about the colt automatic rifles that they were carrying. Some colonies actually consisted of former soldiers who had survived the initial outbreak, while others were just civilians. You never knew what you were going to encounter.

"Okay, so now what?" Owen asked.

"We find us a feral."

"What? What for?"

"I'll explain once we have it."

Packs in general steered clear of the colonies but Abby knew that there would be a few lurking ferals outside the borders of the wall desperate for blood. She found one in no time and came down on top of it literally obliterating its skull with her fist before it could make a single sound. Once it was dead she proceeded to rip open it's stomach and pull its guts out.

"What are you doing?" Owen said with shock.

"Okay, rub this all over your body." She told him nonchalantly as she handed toward him a disgusting blob of only God knew what that she had torn from the feral's body.

"Huh?"

"Did you see those dogs they had stationed at the main gate?" Abby asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"They've been trained to sniff out anything inhuman."

"So you're saying that even though we're not ferals…"

"They'll still go nuts if we try to walk up to the gate."

"Why not just sneak in?"

"I'd rather try a more diplomatic approach first if we can."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with rubbing that nasty stuff all over us?"

"The only vampires that people of this age are familiar with are ferals. We can pass ourselves off as human. If we rub the ferals guts all over us, they'll just think that we're a couple of lost kids who have managed to survive in the woods by using the feral scent to throw them off our trail."

"Um , not that it isn't a good idea and all, but I don't think I can put that stuff on me. I'm ready to barf just smelling it from here."

"I know it won't be easy Owen, but please try. The cure thing was your idea after all. We gotta go the distance if we have even the slightest chance."

Owen then let out a heavy sigh.

"Alright."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

A short time later they had themselves covered from head to toe and were making their way towards the main gate. Immediately the two German Shepherds that were there started barking like mad as the guards raised their guns.

"Please don't shoot!" Abby called out to them.

"Christ, it's a couple of kids!" One of them said as they lowered their weapons.

Eventually they were standing right in front of them.

"What do you have all over you?"

"Vampire blood and intestines and stuff." Abby answered.

"Sweet Jesus! You covered yourself in that gunk?" The other guard asked with a great deal of revulsion.

"The vampires don't come after us if we smell like them." Abby told them.

"God damn! You got guts kids, I'll give you that."

"You don't have to, they've already got it all over them." The other guard said as he turned and puked off to the side.

Owen meanwhile was trying very hard not to do the same. He wanted to say something, but he was afraid that if he opened his mouth something besides words might spill out.

"Where did you come from?"

"We we're traveling with our family here, but…but they didn't make it." Abby said as a single tear streamed down her left cheek.

"_She should have been an actress." _Owen thought to himself.

"My God! Well, let's get the two of you in here and have the doc check you out."

"Thank you." Abby said.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

One of the other guards escorted them from the main gate as they walked through the town. What it essentially was, was a condominium complex. Or at least it used to be, some of the homes had been modified to serve various functions within the community. Whether it be food, markets or the clinic that they were now heading towards. There were some odd stares from the few people that they encountered along the way, strangers were uncommon it seemed. They took note of the fact that the power in this area was still on. Probably nuclear Abby supposed, since a few scattered power plants in the country had survived the nuclear fire bombing.

Once they had reached the clinic they were greeted by a rather friendly looking gentleman who went by the name of Doctor Luke Harris. He was a man in his mid thirties with short brown hair and sporting a lab coat that reminded Owen of Dr. Frankenstein. Shortly after their arrival Abby and Owen were taken into a sanitation shower one at a time by a nurse to be cleaned and scrubbed off. This community had had the luxury of being spared water contamination since they were far enough away from the fallout zones. Afterward they were given clean clothes, Owen was given a t-shirt and jeans while Abby was given a dress. It was the first dress that she had worn since she tried on Owen's mother's dress back in Los Alamos all those years ago. They were both then brought back before the doctor once again.

"Well, the guards tell me that you were traveling here with your family, but that they didn't make it. I'm sorry, this must be a difficult time for you right now." The doctor consoled them.

"I'm afraid I'm sorry too, but for a different reason." Abby said.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm afraid I haven't been entirely honest."

"How so?"

"Before I can answer any more questions, I must insist that you ask your two nurses to leave us for a moment."

"What? But why?"

"Please?"

"Um, okay. Ladies, could you please excuse us for a moment?" The doctor asked as they stepped outside.

"Could you lock the door also?" Abby asked.

"What?"

Abby's only response was a rather pleading look. The doctor let out a befuddled laugh shaking his head as he walked over to the door and turned the lock latch.

"Now then, what is all this about?" He asked.

"You need to take a sample of my blood."

"Excuse me?"

"Please. Just take my blood and look at it." Abby said as she outstretched her arm to him, "I am sure you will have many more questions once you do."

The doctor rubbed the back of his head, understandably confused.

"Alright." He finally said.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Soon enough the doctor had done as Abby had asked and was preparing to look into a microscope when Owen whispered his worries to her.

"What if he freaks out when he finds out what we are? What if the people here try to kill us?"

"I'm pretty sure there was a backdoor to the clinic next to where the shower was. If need be we'll take off through it and be up in the sky before anyone even knows what's going on." She whispered back.

The doctor then bent over peering into the microscope as his eyes became as big as saucers. He jerked back up looking at Abby in disbelief.

"What in the Hell?"

"Please try to remain calm." Abby said.

"Remain calm! According to what I see in there you're a vampire! Yet…"

"Yet what?" Abby asked.

"There seem to be…differences. What are you?"

"You had it right the first time."

"No that can't be, your nothing like the others. You still look human, you still have your mental faculties."

"I came before them."

"Before?"

"Yes, vampires have existed for countless centuries, long before the ferals."

"Ferals? Is that what you call them? Because of their animalistic nature I assume?"

"Yes."

"Is this some kind of bad joke?"

At that point Abby's eyes went yellow as she started to slowly lift into the air.

"I can assure you that this is no joke." She spoke in a deep voice as the doctor's eyes went wide in a mixture of astonishment and fear.

Afterward Abby returned to normal and floated back down.

"Y-you can levitate?"

"Actually she can fly too." Owen chimed in.

"Fly! The others can't fly! And your eyes, they turned yellow instead of red!"

"Like you said, I am…different."

"So vampires have been around for centuries? Why didn't we know about it?"

"We go to allot of trouble to blend in."

"Just how old are you?"

"I can't give you an exact number. I remember being part of a colony in Virginia when I was still human. I remember that when I was alive, there were no cars, no telephones, no electricity. After I was turned there was the Civil War, and The American Revolutionary war. I remember feeding on American Indians, they had a name for me…Utlunta, the life drinker."

"So you feed on humans as well?"

"Yes, but I try to be discerning with whom I feed upon. When the world was normal any number of criminals would do. In this world rape gangs, cultists and other scumbags have sated me, but sometimes the hunger is just too much and we do what we must to survive."

"So you have killed innocents then?"

"I'm afraid so."

"A-are you…going to kill me?"

"No, we are here to help."

"Help?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Her blood." Owen said.

"And probably my spit too." Abby added."

"What do you mean?"

"Owen used to be a feral…until I turned him."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. It was Owen's idea actually. He suggested that something in me might be able to be used to maybe make a cure for the ferals."

"Why? Why would you even care? You're a vampire too."

"Not like them. We don't like this new world of destruction and death anymore than you do. We want things to go back to how they were before." Abby explained.

"I see."

For the longest time, the doctor said nothing, as if he were lost in deep thought.

"A part of me wants to scream for the guards, but…"

"But what?"

"Another part of me is beyond intrigued. Are you serious about wanting to help?"

"Absolutely."

The doctor started to pace the floor, once again stewing in his thoughts as he tried to take it all in and figure out what exactly he should do next. He couldn't trust them, he shouldn't. But yet…if what they were saying was true, if there was a chance for a cure, the risk would be worth it…wouldn't it? Finally after much inner turmoil he reached a decision.

"Okay…I'll do it."


	4. Settling In

Gonna warn you like I did with chapter 2. There's a sex scene in this chapter. Be ready for it or skip it if you feel so inclined.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Special arrangements had been made between the doctor and Abby. They were to be kept in the clinic, staying in one of the patient rooms that was sealed off from sunlight. The room in question was then quarantined by Doctor Harris so that no one would enter except him. In the meantime Abby would volunteer whatever DNA samples she could to help the good doctor with his experiments to create a possible vaccine. While staying there he made sure that if they were to get hungry that they would be given blood stored on site to sustain them. The doctor tried to be selective. From a medical standpoint, blood was more precious than gold in this post apocalyptic world, so he planned to give them blood types that he had the most of while keeping rarer types back.

Not too long after Abby and Owen settled in to their new quarters the town mayor stopped by for a visit. His name was Nicholas Miller, he had been elected by the residents with a pretty wide margin against others who were voted upon. In his former life he wasn't even an official of any kind. He had been instead a TV repairman. But ever since he had joined the colony he had proven himself reliable and trustworthy and the most respected by his peers. There had been those who had attempted to step up and proclaim themselves a proper leader, but the populace decided that someone more humble and with strong moral fiber was needed for the task. There were actually allot of people in Shangri-La who were doing things that they had never done before. Allot of people who were not accustomed to handling a gun or going on supply runs. People whose former lives had been mundane. The only people in the colony who were settling into old roots were Doctor Harris, who was a former hematologist and the town Sheriff, who had in fact been a Sheriff before the vampire infestation.

"Hello Luke. So, where are the new arrivals?"

"I currently have them in one of the patient rooms. I want to keep them here for a few days for observation to deal with some…nutrition issues. I hope that's alright?"

"Oh that's fine, you're the doctor after all, I trust you to make these decisions Luke."

"Thank you." Luke said with some hopefully not too obvious guilt.

"It's incredible isn't it? Two kids like that surviving out in the wild amongst those things. I understand they showed up at the gate covered in vampire guts?"

"Yes, it seemed to mask their scent from them."

"Incredible."

"Yeah…incredible." The doc said in a manner that let on that he knew far more than he was telling.

"I want to kept informed of their progress alright Luke?"

"Yes Mr. Miller."

"Luke. How many times have I told you to call me Nicholas?"

"Sorry, old habits die hard I guess."

With that Nicholas shook his head with a smile and then waved before walking out the door.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Just before dawn.

_Journal of Dr. Luke Harris,_

_Entry 685_

_Have restarted my long abandoned research on cure for the vampire contagion. And I have two vampires to thank for it ironically enough. Granted, they are apparently a different breed of vampire, with one of them(Abby) being well over two hundred years old by my estimation. Until about seven years ago, vampires were considered nothing more than movie monsters and creatures of myth and folklore. The rise of the vampires or ferals as Abby calls them changed all that. But if that were not enough, it would seem that vampires have existed alongside of us for untold centuries, living amongst us, with the ferals being a strange new breed that have only recently became active._

_Then there's Abby and Owen. I can't help but wonder if I have sold my soul to the devil by agreeing to work with them. After all, they are vampires, monsters, killers…aren't they? It's all so much to take in. Sometimes I don't know what to think. I watch them sometimes. The way that they smile, laugh, touch each other. It's as if they were almost…human. But then I think back to the chilling image of Abby floating before me with yellow eyes and her demon possessed Darth Vader voice. You could tell that she truly was a predator in every sense of the word. But I guess none of this really matters, not if the chance of finding away to halt the vampire infection is possible. _

_Abby and Owen…they are the key._

_Their blood, their saliva, every corpuscle of their DNA must be scrutinized to no end. I must remain diligent._

_Note to self, Owen does NOT like needles. Abby had to practically hold him down, her voice though seemed to have an instantly calming effect on him. I almost laughed at the situation. I can't begin to imagine what horrors these two have seen…or committed for that matter. And what is it that freaks little Owen out? Needles._

_Need to take a break. Been working myself to the bone for days now without rest, gonna head over to Ziggy's bar, Sheriff Williams has been wanting to see me. Will meet up with him and then come back here and crash._

_End of entry._

With that, the good doctor shut off his mini tape recorder.

Meanwhile in the room where Abby and Owen were staying...

In the closet of the room in question, blankets and pillows had been spread across the floor. Within Owen squirmed as shallow breaths escaped his mouth. Abby's mouth in the meantime was somewhere else...between Owen's legs.

She had only been working him for about a minute when suddenly Owen began to feel the same pleasurable sensation starting to build in his genitals that she had made him feel back in the lake, only this was far more intense.

"A-Abby!" He stuttered as she started bobbing her head faster.

He cried out as he released in her mouth, twisting and writhing, but she held him firmly in place as she continued sucking. As his pelvic contractions subsided she gradually slowed down to compensate for the sensitivity that followed as he involuntarily thrusted a couple of times.

But just then.

"Abby, Owen?" Bob said suddenly on the other side of the closet door as he gently tapped on it.

Abby and Owen's eyes were both suddenly full of surprise and panic. Abby's mouth meanwhile was still full of something else!

"Uh, just a minute!" Owen called out, both of them shuffling around awkwardly as Owen pulled his pants back on.

Finally after a few more moments the closet door was slid open from the inside, and there was Abby and Owen sitting on the floor looking up at him as innocently as possible given the cirCUMstances.

"What are you two doing in the closet? Something wrong with the bed?"

"Oh no, it's fine. it's just that Abby seldom uses them. She likes there to be as much between her and sunlight as possible, so she wanted to move into the closet. Even when she used to stay at motels she would usually put herself in the bathroom tub and sleep there."

"Oh, I see. So there's nothing wrong then, everything okay?"

"Umm hmm." Abby mumbled shaking her head yes.

"I thought I heard strange noises. Are you sure that everything is alright?"

"Uh, yeah. We were just uh…playing." Owen responded somewhat nervously.

"Oh, well, okay, I'm going to step out for a bit. Do you two need anything?"

"Umm umm." Abby said again shaking her head no, still keeping her mouth closed.

"Alright, I'll be back after while." He said as he turned and left shutting the door behind him.

After this Abby and Owen turned and looked at each other mischievously as Abby quickly got up and ran over to a waste basket. She then bent over and spat out Owen's semen. She then turned back to him as they both starting laughing with beet red faces as Owen hid his face in his hands.

She then rejoined Owen in the closet.

"That was close." She said as she snuggled up to him.

"You're telling me!" Owen gasped.

"Well, did you like it, did it feel good?"

"Oh wow, that was, that was…oh wow." Owen uttered unable to find the proper words to describe the pleasure he had just felt, "I…I didn't know that girls could use their mouths to do things like that. But what was that stuff you spit out?"

"It's called cum, at least that's what I've heard it called. It's what comes out when you make a man feel good down there."

"So is that what grown ups do?"

"Yea."

"Why did you let me do that in your mouth?"

"Because I knew it would feel really good for you, better than if I were to take it out." Abby explained as a look of almost regret came across Owen's face.

"What's wrong Owen?"

"It...it's just that..." He started to say.

"Just what?"

"You do these wonderful things to me that make me feel good, but it doesn't feel right that you don't get to…feel anything." Owen tried to phrase it delicately.

"I…I've never felt anything like that." Abby finally admitted."

"What? But how do you know how to do the stuff that you do to me?"

"Because that was what some of my former caretakers would have me do to them. They showed me how. It was always about pleasing them."

"Did you like doing it to them?"

"...no." She finally answered after some hesitation on her part.

"Why would you even let them in the first place then? Why not just leave them when they started asking for things like that?"

"Because there were times when my survival was dependent upon them and I simply wasn't left with much choice."

"That's terrible."

"Yeah…it was."

"If you don't like doing these things, then why do you do them with me?"

"Because with you it feels…different. I want to do these things with you, I like to. Even though I'm not really sure why."

"Abby?"

"Yea?"

"Would you…would you let me try…please?"

Abby wasn't quite sure how to react to that question but couldn't help but be naturally curious herself.

"Well, what did you have in my mind?"

"Uh, well, maybe if I did the same thing to you that you just did to me?"

After a great deal of thought Abby finally nodded as she laid back in the closet. Once Owen had her exposed from the waist down he beheld what was between Abby's legs with great curiosity as he briefly pondered the differences between boys and girls. Owen then moved down until his face was right above her pelvis. He was momentarily awestruck by the tiny patch of auburn colored pubic hair that was between her legs. He didn't know that girls had hair down there, he didn't have any between his legs. What Owen didn't understand of course was that girls close to the same age as boys tended to sexually mature faster, Abby had been turned during a time when her body was already going through the changes of puberty. More so, over two centuries ago, girls close to Abby's age were generally promised to other men and expected to be able to bear children as early as fourteen and fifteen. For generations this took place and caused many young girls to sexually mature faster than young girls in today's society.

"Owen...is something wrong?" Abby asked breaking him out of his trance as it were.

"Uh, no." He responded snapping back to reality.

He was clearly nervous, nay, he was terrified. He looked up at Abby to see that she was just as nervous as he was, this was as much a new experience for her as it was for him. But he wasn't about to let his feelings of inadequacy get in the way of trying to make Abby happy. He thought back to some of the things Abby had done to him and proceeded to go down on her. Through allot of trial and error he learned where Abby's sensitive areas were. Though it was a little more complicated in her case and took longer eventually Abby let out a prolonged gasp as she began to feel the onset of her own orgasm.

"Owen!" She cried out, "Something's happening!" She squealed as the fingers of her left hand clasped together with Owen's right and her other hand reached down pushing Owen's face hard into her pelvis.

Abby let out a cry that neighbors probably would have heard if not for the thick brick walls of the former condo. Her back arched as her legs kicked in all directions. Owen found it a bit more difficult to hold her in place like she did him. At the height of her release she even levitated briefly lifting Owen slightly before falling back down.

Despite her previous sexual experiences, in all truth she was just as much a virgin as Owen was. Her face remained frozen in a state of ecstasy, her entire body quaking and shuddering in the aftermath. Her eyes were boggling with a mixed look of confusion and bliss as she tried to wrap her head around what she had just experienced. If Owen had still been human there was a chance that her thighs might have crushed his skull.

Afterward Owen slowly lifted his head up.

"Did…did I do good?" He asked worriedly.

"Uh huh." She said shaking her head and up and down rapidly with a goofy expression that caused Owen to snicker.

She then sat back up and hugged Owen tightly.

"Owen, thank you. That was amazing."

"I honestly had no idea what I was doing, I was scared to death." He admitted as he returned her embrace.

"Well, it felt wonderful to me. So that's what it feels like?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess so, I don't know if it's the same for girls as it is for boys though."

"No wonder people like it so much." Abby admitted still basking in the afterglow of the most incredible physical sensation she had ever felt.

"I love you Abby."

"And I love you Owen."

Shortly after they closed the closet doors, curled up together in the sheets and drifted off to sleep as the sun began to rise.

Meanwhile after many tiring hours at the clinic a very exhausted Doctor Harris managed to shuffle out into the outside world for the first time in days as he walked into the local makeshift bar. Ziggy's bar had at one time been the 'party house' of the complex back when it was still a normal condo establishment.

"Hey Doc."

"Hey Bob." He said tiredly

"Damn doc, you look like you haven't slept for about three days."

"Been burning the midnight oil…repeatedly."

"Yeah, that's what I hear. You canceled all of your scheduled appointments with the townsfolk too I've been told. What's up?"

"I've started working on a cure for the vampire virus again."

"Really? I thought you'd given up on that."

"I had, but something…new has popped up. Something that escaped my attention before."

"Doc, God knows we all love ya for trying, but don't you think the world is a little too far gone now? I mean even if we found a way to get rid of those damn things life will be far from normal for us. There are parts of the country that none of us will ever be able to go anywhere near in our lifetimes because of radiation."

"Doesn't matter Bob, as long as there's even a fraction of us left, it's worth it to try as far as I'm concerned."

"Has it gotten that bad do you think? What do you figure is the vampire to human population ratio in general?"

"Don't even want to think about it, for that matter I really don't want to think at all right now."

"I heard that, hey Ziggy get this man a beer!"

"Yea right."

"No seriously."

"What? Since when do we have beer?"

"Oh yeah I'm guessing that you haven't heard. We got lucky on our last supply run and found a few cases of Budweiser stashed in some guy's basement of all places. Can you believe that?" Bob told him as an icy cold bottle slid down the bar into his hand.

"Well I'll be damned." The doctor said as he popped the top and swigged it back with a long swallow, "I had almost forgotten what beer tastes like, haven't had one of these since before the epidemic." He went on as he stopped to stare at the bottle, "It's amazing…isn't it?"

"Well, truthfully doc I'm more of a Miller man myself, but hey, beggars can't be choosers I guess."

"That's not what I meant." The doc said with a chuckle.

"What did you mean then?"

"The things that you take for granted in your life, things that you don't think you'll miss, until they're gone that is."

"Yeah, I reckon so."

"Now THIS, I can drink." The doctor said with a somewhat accusatory tone at the bartender.

"What? You don't like my special home brew doc?" He replied.

"Wasn't Eric using that stuff to strip paint off that old school bus he's been tinkering with?"

"Ahhhh, that don't mean nothin."

"Oh really? Well when you stroll into my clinic holding your quivering liver in your hand don't say I didn't warn you."

"Have you seen Eric's 'battle bus' lately doc?" Bob interrupted.

"Is that what he's calling it now?"

"No, that's what I call it, damn thing looks like something out of 'The Road Warrior'. He calls it 'The vampire slayer'."

"What has he done to it now?"

"What hasn't he done to it? Armor plating, gun ports, he's even put a beveled plow on the front of the thing."

"So he still thinks that we're going to be overrun someday huh?"

"Swears to it doc. Still keeps telling that same old story about that herd of what he claims was no less than a thousand vampires that he saw moving through the plains of Kansas over two years ago. With nothing but friggin moonlight to see with just how in the hell can you even tell how many there are of anything? You ever heard of such a thing doc?"

"Can't say that I have, lets just hope that he's wrong."

"I'll drink to that, sounds like something out of a horror movie anyway." Bob proclaimed as he took another long swig of his beer.

"We're already living in one as it is Bob."

"That reminds me, did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"Hunting party found a new nest yesterday morning."

"Really? I didn't think there were any left around these parts. Where was it?"

"In Rexburg."

"Christ, that's the next town over from us. I thought it was a dead town?"

"It is now." Bob said regretfully, "We found the remains of families that were apparently still hiding there."

"My God."

"I'm pretty sure God has forsaken us old buddy."

"I can't believe it."

"Surprised them too I guess."

"Did we lose anyone?"

"Nope, damn things scurried like cockroaches when the sunlight hit em. They didn't stand a chance."

"Well, hopefully that was the last one, not crazy about the idea of those things repopulating this area like they were when we first settled here. Was there anything else that you wanted to know?"

"I think you pretty much covered all of the bases doc, just do me a favor okay?"

"What?"

"Get home and get some rest."

"Yes sir."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

I should have listened, I should have went home…but I didn't. I went back to the clinic and collapsed in on the couch in the waiting room. I fully intend to start again early in the morning, nose to the grindstone. I can't stop now.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

A couple of weeks later…

"Okay, here's the situation," Doctor Harris began to say as Abby and Owen stood before him, "You've both been here for two weeks now and some people are starting to ask questions. I've already kept you both here for allot longer than I would normally keep anyone that I would be checking for infectious diseases, so I think you should try to go out and mingle. I'm assuming the hunger situation is in order?"

"Yes, the blood packets you just gave us will sustain for some time." Abby answered.

"You got lucky on that. We just recently had out annual blood drive for the entire complex."

"What if people start asking us why they don't see us during the day?" Owen asked with some concern.

"That's when you tell them that I have diagnosed you with Solar Urticaria."

"Solar what?" Owen asked with a dumbfounded look.

"Solar Urticaria is an allergic reaction to the sun characterized by itching, redness and hives on areas of skin exposed to sunlight. But very few people here will actually know that, so if they ask what it is just tell them that what I said you have and that you are allergic to the sun."

"Understood." Abby replied.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Abby and Owen headed outside as they walked through the complex taking in the sights. There were of course several homes lined up next to each other in solid columns going in all directions. In classic condo fashion the apartments in question all looked practically identical from the outside. As they walked along they saw an empty pool that looked as if it hadn't been used in years. Even though the water was safe and clean in their area the community still enforced water conservation. There was also other recreational areas that included a tennis court, basketball court and a small playground. At the center of the complex was a large fountain that also had been out of commission for quite sometime. The diversionary amusements were located near the center of the complex. Abby and Owen veered towards the playground area to discover several children playing with some odd looking puzzles. They had came in on the last supply truck that had gone out. Owen immediately recognized it.

"Hey, it's a Pyraminx!"

"A what?" Abby asked.

"It's a puzzle that's just like the Rubix Cube, only it's a pyramid shape instead. I saw them first show up in stores right before the outbreak."

"Crap!" One of the children said throwing it down, having grown too frustrated to bother with it any further.

"Excuse me? May I try?" Abby asked stepping up to the child in question.

"Knock yourself out, no one here's even come close to solving it yet."

Abby then reached down and picked it up, her hands moving with amazing speed across the puzzle's surface. Eventually she started moving even faster and a crowd of the kids began to circle around her as they watched her work. In no time at all she had it solved. The rest of the children were looking at her with astonishment, unsure of how they should react. Owen felt the need to say something.

"She really likes puzzles." He said.

"That's crazy, how could she solve it that fast?" One child said.

"What is she some kind of freak?" Another spoke.

"No!" Owen said defensively, "It took her what, five minutes? I'm guessing no one here knows that the world record for solving a Rubix Cube is 39 seconds? There was a tournament that was talked about on TV back before the outbreak. Do you call them freaks too?"

"Dude, how old are you? You woulda been like six back then." A third child challenged.

"I'll have you know that I have a very good memory." Owen stated with pride.

The rest of the children seemed to calm down after that.

"_Phew, that was a close one." _Owen thought to himself.

Just then a much younger child, a small girl of around seven years of age accidentally dropped hers while fidgeting with it. Abby leaned over to pick it up and then handed it to her.

"Thank you." She said, to which Abby smiled.

However, while she was still slightly bent over she suddenly got a slap on her behind. She straitened back up with a blush as she turned around expecting to see Owen with a devilish grin. But when she turned she saw a completely different boy instead, which only added to her embarrassment. What she saw was a boy who looked to be about 13, with a short blond army style buzz cut and decked out in kiddie camo.

"You got a cute butt." He said with a smug grin as Abby cocked an eyebrow.

Owen meanwhile had saw what he did at the last second and was eyeing him warily.

"So you two are the new kids huh?" He said looking back and forth between her and Owen, "We haven't had any in quite some time. My name is Corey by the way." The boy said outstretching his hand.

Abby hesitated for a moment but then decided to be polite as she reached out her own. But the second she grabbed his he quickly spun her into a pirouette that resulted in her leaning backwards in his arms.

"And I'm also the boy of your dreams." He grinned.

Abby allowed herself a half smile as she pulled away from him.

"You're a feisty one aren't you?" She said.

"You have no idea." He replied.

Owen meanwhile was positively fuming, if looks could kill Corey would be dead a hundred times over.

"So how many people live here?" Abby asked.

"A few hundred, place isn't even close to being full, course we lost allot of people on the way here. Ferals at night, cultists during the day."

"How long you all been here?"

"Bout three years now. Had to clean out some ferals when we first got here though."

"Sounds tough."

"Yeah, pretty rough stuff. But I hear you got it pretty bad too. You lost your folks right?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Heh, half the kids sitting here are parentless. What you see here are the tough ones."

"Tough ones?"

"Yeah, some of the kids who lost family didn't handle it too well. Girl I used to know named Angela kinda went funny in the head after she lost her baby sister. And another boy named William hung himself after he lost his folks. Another boy named Greg watched his dad die from radiation sickness, guess he was on the outskirts of one of the big cities back when the nukes were first dropped. He hasn't spoken a word since. There are others, I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea."

"Yeah." Abby said as she thought upon what he had just said, realizing just how hard some of these kids had it.

They were orphans, orphans of the apocalypse.


	5. Paradise Lost

Okay, I've gone and done it now.

I made it a crossover.

I hope my loyal readers can forgive me. It was not my intention when I first started writing this tale, course then again, I had originally never planned on going beyond one chapter either.

I've taken a character from another film and placed said character in this universe, I will reveal a new origin for the character later. I want to see if anyone can figure out who it is without me saying anything.

In any case, I hope that you will still enjoy the story regardless.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After the kids were through for the night they all returned to their homes. Young Corey walked into through the front door of his respective condo to see his father sitting in the living room watching his favorite movie, 'Dirty Harry' on VHS. Obviously, since television networks as the world knew them no longer existed, the only purpose that TV's still served was to watch VCR tapes. About a year ago, the raiding of a local K-mart store saw many VHS players make their way into complex along with countless movies. Combined with the ones that were already in many of the homes to begin with after the condos were abandoned, it resulted in almost every home having one aside from those who didn't want them.

Hearing his son come in he called out to him.

"Corey? Could I have a word with you please?" He said as the 13 year old entered the living room.

"Uh, yeah dad?" Corey asked as Sheriff Bob gazed at him with a somewhat accusatory look.

"Was that you that I saw flirting with the new girl earlier by any chance?"

"Um, maybe?"

"Christ boy, I know you like making new friends but have ya considered giving the new kids some time? They just lost their family for God's sake. And what's this slapping the behind business about?"

"What? She had a nice butt. I couldn't resist." The boy said with a smile.

Bob merely shook his head in disapproval.

"When I was your age we didn't even think of such things yet boy."

"Well, times have kinda changed."

"That may be true, in more ways than one, but I don't want you getting any crazy ideas."

"Crazy? Me?" Corey said pointing at himself innocently.

"Yes, crazy. Like that time you built that crazy contraption. What did you call it?"

"The Vampire Killer 3000. And it would've worked by the way if you hadn't stopped me."

"You tried to fly off the roof of the house with it and you nearly ran over your friend Dwayne. Then it burst into flames."

"It just needed a little fine tuning."

"We're not having this argument again, in any case, it sounds like you had fun this evening."

"Yeah, we did. Funny thing though. Right after we got done with the puzzles one of the guys from the supply truck brought over a box full of Nestle chocolate bars they had found. We dug into em like a pride of lions, thing is though Abby and her friend didn't want any."

"Well, maybe they just weren't hungry? Or perhaps they just don't like chocolate?"

"What? Who doesn't like chocolate? That ain't even right, it's practically un-American."

"You do realize that Nestle is French right?" Bob told him.

Corey's only response was a dirty look that caused his father to laugh.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next night Abby and Owen were out with the other kids again playing. And they all learned first hand that despite their best efforts Abby was impossible to hide from when playing hide and go seek. As well as an uncanny ability to get around very quickly unseen during tag, much to their chagrin.

While in the midst of their frolicking Abby was briefly separated from Owen as a thought to be unseen Corey attempted to sneak up on her. He came swinging down off of a tree limb using a rope tied tree swing like a trapeze as he came gliding down towards her upside down. He outstretched his hands with a mischievous grin fully intending to get two handfuls this time of her adorable little behind. But not being distracted this time, she was ready for him as she casually side stepped him.

"Oh crap!" He spat right before smacking face first into the trunk of the tree and then falling down on the ground.

"Hello Corey." Abby said as she looked down at him with a smug grin.

"Mufitnerfug." He blurted out while lying on the ground.

In Corey's mind he thought he was saying hello, but was highly disoriented after hitting the tree, as such the thought that his vocal chords tried to process didn't come out quite right.

"Ieeee meant to do that." He slurred getting back up clumsily as he tried to shake off the cobwebs, "I see that your brother isn't around, good, I don't think he likes me anyway."

"He isn't my brother." Abby told him.

"Huh? I thought you said that you guys lost your family?"

"I lost mine…a very long time ago." She said with more truth than she had intended to let on, "Owen is not related to me."

"Then what is he your boyfriend or something?" Corey joked.

"As a matter of fact he is." She stated proudly with a smile.

"Whaaaat? That scrawny thing? Man, the pickens must've been slim where you came from."

In an instant Abby's smile disappeared. And the look it was replaced with chilled Corey to his very bones.

"Owen is far stronger than you give him credit for. I have no doubt that you have all experienced your share of pain, loss and unhappiness. But it is NOTHING compared to what Owen has endured." She said as she then stepped in close to Corey's face, "And YOU are not even half the man he is." She stated bluntly before turning and abruptly storming off leaving Corey both shaken and stupefied.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later as dawn approached, Abby was trying to snuggle with Owen with little success. His knees were against his chest and his arms crossed in front of himself in a rather frustrated manner as they sat in the closet of their room.

""Owen? What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" He said defensively.

"It's Corey isn't?" She asked with a smile.

"No!" He bleated with absolutely no composure.

"Owen you don't have to be jealous."

"I'm not jealous!" He whined as Abby burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"You, I saw the way you were looking at him, I thought you were going to try to rip him in half."

"The thought had crossed my mind."

"Oh Owen he's harmless, just forget about him."

"I don't like the way he touched you."

"He hasn't been the first you know."

"What do you mean."

"I've dealt with my share of wayward boys in my very long lifetime. It isn't anything that I haven't seen or heard before."

"Really?"

"Yep, and despite all of their attempts to win me, in the end all of the cutest and bravest boys in the world don't hold a candle to you." She proclaimed as she watched Owen's angry exterior practically melt with a red faced smile.

"Really?"

"You bet." She said as she leaned in and started planting nuzzling kisses on his neck and cheek that made him giggle.

"Am I forgiven?" Abby asked.

"Am I?" Owen asked back.

"Of course ya goof, come here." She said as she pulled him close to her, "Anyways I put him in his place."

"Did you eat him?" Owen asked with genuine and very inappropriate excitement.

"No!" She smiled in disbelief.

"Oh. Can I eat him then?"

"No."

"Damn it!" He cursed as Abby shook her head with a snicker.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The following night Abby and Owen were both awakened by sounds coming from one of the nearby condos. They were sounds that no one else could hear but them with their enhanced hearing. The heavy brick walls of the homes made for perfect sound insulation, but did little against the superhuman hearing of vampires. With Owen still learning and adjusting to his abilities, he was only catching bits and pieces of it, kind of like a radio station that wouldn't tune in just right. But Abby, whose ears was far more acute, could hear everything as clear as day.

"What is it, what's going on?" Owen asked.

"Sounds like an argument. There's allot of screaming and shouting."

"Between who?"

"A man and a woman."

"What are they saying?"

"The woman is crying and the man is saying something about how she's a worthless cow and that he doesn't understand why he married a stupid-"

"Abby?"

"He just hit her."

"What?" Owen said standing up abruptly.

"Owen, I know what you're thinking, but you need to remember what I said before, back when you wanted to attack the cultists. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves, we're trying to blend in, remember?"

"I can't just sit by here and do nothing. For that matter how can you?"

"Owen, what is more important? This, or the cure, think."

After a few more moments Owen hung his head in defeat.

"It's not easy you know." He said.

"I know, just please trust me Owen." She said as she placed a hand on his shoulder that moved up to rub the back of his head and neck.

Just then there was a knock at the door.

"Abby, Owen? Can I come in?" Doctor Harris asked.

"Yes." Abby called out as he opened the door.

"I need a fresh blood sample. If you would care to oblige me?" The Doctor asked.

"No problem, Owen I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay."

Abby then departed and joined Doctor Harris.

"Any progress yet?" She asked as she hopped into a chair and extended her arm waiting for the Doctor to take the blood he needed.

"Well, I think I'm getting very close actually. One problem however has been finding a way to create something that cures ferals without turning them into what you are. Trying to find a way to create an agent that returns the subject to human form is the hurdle. I may have another problem though."

"What problem?"

"There's a certain biological agent, a special catalyst that could lock in the final elements that I need to perfect a cure, but the thing is, I don't have it here."

"Where is it?"

"In the colony of New Haven."

"The largest colony in the country?"

"Yes, a Doctor I was taught by back in college and apprenticed under is there. He's a brilliant man. He would have what we need to finish the cure."

"So I guess me and Owen should probably be thinking about leaving then. Take what you have so far and take it to him?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. That's how it's looking right now anyway."

"It's alright, we're getting there, that's what matters." Abby said as Harris finished drawing the blood.

"I'm going to keep working at it, maybe try to improvise something that will hopefully make the trip there unnecessary, but if all else fails, that will more than likely be our only option."

"I understand." Abby said as she got up out of the chair and returned to her and Owen's room.

But when she got there, he was no where to be found, she then noticed the open window.

"_Oh no!"_

xxxxxxxxxxxx

To say that Frank Gardner was surprised when the pummeling of his wife was interrupted by what looked to be a 12 year old boy crashing through the sliding glass door of their condo would be an understatement.

Owen paused for only a moment to look over at the woman in question, black, blue, battered and bloody. He then pounced like a jungle cat as he tackled Frank across the room and out another window on the far side of their home. As they hit the ground outside Owen was in full vamp mode, his hands choking the life out of the abuser as he struggled and flailed uselessly in Owen's grip. Suddenly a hand came down upon his shoulder. Owen spun around ready to attack whatever was there. But when he saw Abby his face immediately softened as he reverted back to his more human self.

Frank rolled over on the ground, coughing and spitting up blood. Owen hadn't truly realized what he had done until now. In his anger his conscious mind had shut off, allowing the demon to take over. Owen shuddered at his own handiwork.

"This is why it is important to control your temper." Abby began to say, "When you let rage take hold of you it opens a door, a door that allows the thing inside of us to come out and take complete control. I learned this myself the hard way back when I was first turned."

Owen hung his head, though he couldn't really feel sorry for the man he had attacked, he was ashamed of himself for going off the deep end.

But suddenly Owen began to stagger, feeling woozy as he suddenly grew dizzy and fell into Abby's arms.

"Wha-what's happening t-to me." He slurred out.

"In your anger and haste you forgot about one of our weaknesses as vampires. Remember what happened to me back in Los Alamos when I entered your home uninvited? Granted you were only inside his house for a few seconds, so in your case it is less severe, give yourself a few minutes to recover Owen." She told him as she gently sat him down upon the ground.

Meanwhile Frank had started to get back up as Abby looked over at him. Her eyes scrutinized him, seeing past his clothes, his skin and into the blood that pumped through his veins as they fed the muscles in his body.

"_Looks like he's right handed." _She thought to her self as she suddenly grabbed his right arm and broke his humerus bone, which was the bone in between the shoulder blade and the elbow joint.

He hit the ground screaming as he clutched at his mangled limb.

"Let's see you hit her with it now." Abby hissed in a deep voice.

In the meantime though, the commotion had attracted a crowd that was now gathering around them, At the forefront was Sherriff Bob with a shotgun in hand and accompanied by several armed men.

"I don't know what the Hell you two are, but you just made a very big mistake." He threatened taking aim as Abby and Owen took defensive stances.

"Owen take my hand." Abby whispered as she coiled the muscles in her legs in preparation for a leap into the air for flight.

But just then Doctor Harris ran through the crowd and stepped in front of them.

"Stop!" He shouted.

"Doc? What in the Hell are you doing?"

"Please stop."

"You didn't see what they did."

"I don't need to, I already know what they are."

"What?"

"They're vampires."

"No, we've all seen our share of vamps."

"They are true vampires."

"True? What is that supposed to mean?"

"The vampires that we are familiar with are a new breed, vampires like Abby have been with us since God only knows when. Abby herself is at least over two hundred years old."

"Have you gone nuts Doc?"

"How else do you explain what she can do?"

"Don't know, don't care. They attacked a man and nearly killed him, that's all that matters to me."

"Who, Frank Gardner? Pardon me if I don't show a great deal of sympathy." Harris started to say with venom in his voice, "We all knew what kind of man Frank was, we were just too busy turning the other cheek…including me. We've been so focused on the horrors outside our gates that we didn't want to think about the ones within. In the process of trying to preserve humanity we forgot how to be humane somewhere along the way. And I think it is ironic that a couple of inhumans were the ones who had to bring that to our attention."

"Luke, I know how you feel, but I was never able to catch Gardner in the act, that and even if we had a jail, which we don't. His wife never tried to speak up or press charges." Bob explained.

"Well, I guess none of that matters now." The doctor said.

"I'll tell you what matters, the hellions that have violated the sanctity of our home! The demons must be destroyed!" A voice shouted from the back.

Stepping through the gathered crowd as they parted was a middle aged Caucasian woman with long brown hair. Her name was Gloria Burnet, the town's resident religious zealot.

"Gloria, please, not now." Luke pleaded rolling his eyes.

"They are the spawn of Satan, sent to destroy us, hidden behind the treacherous guise of innocence."

"What they are, are the key to the salvation of the human race!" Luke shouted.

"There is no salvation on the path that you have chosen Luke, only damnation. And these two blasphemous imps will lead you there."

"I don't have time to deal with you." Luke said with obvious frustration and a dismissive wave.

"You'll have plenty of time in Hell doctor. You never believed in God's laws. You are a man of science. And you will burn for your lack of faith. And we will all burn if we listen to him! This is Lucifer's attempt at destroying what remains of us now that we have sealed ourselves off from his first born spawns. He has now created something new." She began to say, raising her voice as she turned to the rest of the crowd, "If you follow him instead of the will of God you shall all roast in the bowels of hell! Screaming for mercy and forgiveness from a God who will not answer! You will all be forsaken! Mark my words!"

"Gloria that's enough!" Nicholas yelled as he arrived on the scene.

He stepped up next to Bob placing his hand upon the top of the gun he still had raised, making him lower it as he walked up to the doctor.

"Luke, I understand what you're saying about Gardner, but in regards to apparently hiding these two among us I have but one thing to say." He began, "Just what in the Hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking about trying to save the human race!"

"What? By cavorting with monsters?"

"Please Nicholas, try to understand what I am trying to accomplish here! Through them we can stop the vampires once and for all! The boy, Owen, he used to be a feral!"

"Feral?"

"That's the name that Abby gave to the vampires that we've been dealing with all these years. But Abby found him, bit him and turned him. Made him like her. Now he thinks, feels, talks, he's practically human!"

"Except that he isn't! Neither of them are!"

"No, but with their DNA I can restore humanity, I know it! All I need to do is isolate the antibodies that allowed Abby's infection to over power the feral virus and we will have a plausible vaccine!"

"Plausible? Plausible! You justify risking the lives of the people in this community over an unproven theory? Are you mad?"

"Do you think that I have not considered this? I have been questioning the morality of my choice from the beginning! But in the end I was right!"

"What do you mean?"

"I've created a cure damnit!"

"What? Ar-are you serious?"

"Dead serious! I'm only lacking one final thing to complete it."

"What is that?"

"A special chemical that will pinpoint the pathogen that causes the infection and neutralize it."

"Where is it?"

"In New Haven."

"New Haven? Are you suggesting that we go there, through lands infested with ferals, cultists and cannibals?"

"No…they will." Harris said looking back at Abby and Owen.

"How can you trust them?"

"If they wanted us dead they could've done something about it before now, they're far stronger than the ferals, you've all seen that now. And there's something else too."

"What?"

"Abby, would you be kind enough to show them what you showed me back at the clinic?"

With that Abby slowly floated up into the air as everyone gasped taking several steps back as she came back down.

"They can levitate?" Nicholas blabbed.

"More than that, she can fly, Owen can't however, he's still too young. It took Abby several years to master that ability."

"And your point?"

"Though there are several physical and biological differences between the kind of vampires that Abby and Owen are and the ferals, there are certainly similarities as well. The ferals are still practically newborns from a vampire perspective…and there may be abilities that they have yet to manifest."

"What? Are you suggesting that they might be eventually be able to fly like her?"

"It is…a possibility."

With that proclamation a wave of panic started to sweep through the crowd as Bob tried to calm them down.

"What in the Hell are you trying to do? Scare these people to death?" Nicholas spat.

"They should be scared! This is a very real possibility! And if it does happen, and we take a walk outside one night to see them soaring over our walls? Then WE ARE DEAD! All of us! Do you understand! I don't know about you, but I have no intention to wait and see if that happens. I say we do something about it now."

Nicholas then hung his head, pondering everything that the doctor had just told him, unsure of how to proceed. But just then Abby turned her face to the east.

"What's wrong Abby?" Owen asked.

"I hear…music." She said.

"What?" Luke said turning around.

"It's approaching from the east." She said.

After a few more moments everyone else began to hear it too.

"What Is it?" Nicholas asked.

"Sounds like…Mozart's Requiem, Tuba Mirum?" The doctor suggested as it grew louder.

But as it approached another sound could be heard…the sound of an approaching train.

People began to gather at the main gate looking out. Adjacent to the gate about two hundred yards away was an old Union Pacific railway that hadn't been used since before the outbreak, the train was coming down that track and the music was coming from it. It began to slow down as it reached Shangri-La, the screeching metallic brakes causing many of the people to grab their ears to protect then from the deafening sound. Finally it came to a stop directly in front of the gateway. When it did, the music also abruptly stopped.

"What the Hell?" Bob said with a confusion that was mirrored by everyone else present.

After several moments of silence one of several box cars that was attached to the back of the locomotive slowly opened as the side door slid away. Stepping into view was what appeared to be a man dressed in a black leather duster and wearing a black flat brimmed hat that was reminiscent of what one would see in the old spaghetti westerns starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef. His head was tilted down slightly, his face hidden behind his hat's brim obscuring it from view.

For several more moments there was nothing but silence, Abby's face meanwhile had suddenly gone pale.

"Abby? Are you okay?" Owen asked.

The answer to his question was no, she wasn't. She smelled something, something ancient, something powerful, something timeless that chilled her to her very core. But that wasn't all that she smelled.

"Oh no." She muttered.

"What?" Owen asked.

"Ferals." She said as suddenly behind the man in the coat and hat several pairs of glowing red eyes began to appear out of the darkness of the box car as the people at the gate gasped and started to step back.

Then the remaining box cars began to rumble and shake until what was within refused to be contained any longer as countless ferals surged forward from the sides of the train.

"Who is that man? Why are the ferals not attacking him?" Nicholas asked.

"That isn't a man." Abby said with a great deal of dread.

The people began screaming as they ran away from the gate, but Bob marshaled them and stood strong.

"There's no need to panic! That gate is reinforced steel, there's no way that they're getting through it no matter how many of them there are!" He yelled as ferals by the hundreds reached through the bars of the gate that seemed to holding them back as they tried vainly to push against it.

"See!" The Sheriff said turning towards them for a moment as he outstretched his hands towards the people in a gesture that was meant to calm.

But then, as if given an unspoken command. The ferals parted allowing the man in the coat and hat to step forward until he was right in front of the gate. He then finally lifted his head revealing a pair of glowing yellow eyes as everyone began looking back and forth in between him and Abby whose gaze matched his. With an almost jovial smile he then reached up and effortlessly tore down the steel gate like it was made of tin foil.

Everyone was paralyzed with fear, neither the muscles in their legs able to move or the ones in their throats able to scream. There were a few more seconds of silence after this. Even with the gate down the ferals didn't move, it was as if they were waiting for something.

And then…

"Kill…them…all." The primeval vampire commanded.

With a unified howl the ferals finally charged through the gateway as the townsfolk fled in terror. At that same moment the Dies Irae sequence of Mozart's Requiem began to blare from the train as the blood bath ensued.

You could barely hear the music over the sounds of the screams.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Okay, just wanting to let everyone know that it might be a while before I get the next chapter out. I hope that you can be patient with me in the meantime.


	6. On The Lamb

Okay, so it didn't take as long as I thought it would. In any case, here's the next chapter.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Bob! Get the civilians out of here now!" Nicholas ordered as the mayor signaled to the guards to form a defensive line.

"Where? We don't have a back door!" The sheriff shouted.

"Just do it!"

"The cure! I have to get to it!" Doctor Harris exclaimed rushing back towards his clinic.

As the ferals flooded the complex they were cut down by gunfire from high powered shot guns. But ferals that head shots were not scored on simply kept coming. The men were fighting valiantly but were quickly being overwhelmed. Once things went to hth the ferals immediately began to tear the guards apart. Bob got on his walkie-talkie calling all guards on the premises to support the defense of the main gate, then he contacted his son, who also carried one.

"Corey?"

"_Yeah dad?"_

"Where are you?"

"_Me and some of the other kids are helping Eric tinker on the battle bus."_

"Good, listen I want you and the other kids to get on the bus and wait there do you understand?"

"_Dad, what's going on? We can hear gunshots and screaming from here?"_

"Don't worry about it!"

"_But dad!"_

"You do as I say boy!"

"_Yes sir."_

Abby and Owen stepped up to meet the ferals head on, their muscles taught and their teeth bared. Though Owen had yet to master a proper kill technique, that didn't stop him from dislocating the arms or legs of any that got within arm's reach. Abby on the other hand was a whirling dervish of death and mayhem, annihilating them left and right. But most of the ferals eventually started going around Abby and Owen to reach the hapless humans, they were dwindling fast.

Behind them the townsfolk fled for their lives towards the back of the colony but really had no place to go…they were trapped. The lead vampire slowly walked through the chaos that surrounded him, his head tilted down and his hands and fingers moving as if he were a mock conductor for the music that still continued to drone from the train behind him.

Several guards rushed up and empting machine guns into him, but the vampire regarded it as more of an annoyance than anything else. He grabbed the closest guard and folded him in half like an accordion as his spine broke and ripped up out of his back. The rest converged on him all at once but all for naught. They mangled and dismembered at break neck speed. One of the guards managed get in a lucky blow as they swung a machete from behind. It cut into the vampire's neck easily enough but stopped when it hit the bone as if it had just struck solid rock. The vampire turned with the blade still lodged in his neck with a slightly aggravated look upon his face.

"It'll take a little more than that to take my head," He said grabbing the mortified guard, "You on the other hand." He finished as he heaved back and punched the man's skull clean off his body effortlessly, letting the blood that prayed from the headless torso jet into his mouth. He then let the body drop and casually reached up, dislodging the machete from his neck before tossing up in the air once. He turned and threw it, burying it between the eyes of another guard as he continued on undaunted.

Nearby a small child, a girl that couldn't have been more than nine, crawled out from under her mother's dead body. She looked up to see the vampire in the hat and coat staring down at her. He reached down and snatched her up in his arms as he looked upon her. She was terrified but too paralyzed with fear to move.

"Well, well now little one. You're so cute I could eat you up. In fact, that isn't a bad idea." He said as he buried his fangs into her neck as she screamed.

Seeing this Owen grew angry and charged, launching himself at the vampire.

"Owen no!" Abby called after him, but it was too late.

He backhanded Owen away from him as Abby flew out to catch him. She succeeded, but his body had so much momentum behind it that they both went smashing into one of the condos as the brick cracked and indented where their bodies struck it.

"We need to get to Doctor Harris, now!" Abby yelled.

"But what about the people? We can't just leave them to die!" Owen protested.

"We can't save everyone Owen! And half of them are dead already, soon they'll be ferals too. There's too many of them to fight off! We have to remember why we came here in the first place, we have to get the doctor and the cure out of here! C'mon!" She told him as she scooped him up and flew off.

They eventually reached the clinic where they found Luke trying to fend off ferals that were trying to break down his front door.

"Hey Abby, I got an idea."

"What?"

"Let me go."

"What?"

"Yeah, just dive down and drop me."

"Are you nuts?"

"Well, maybe, but just do it."

Reluctantly she did as he asked. As she let go of him he compacted himself into a tight ball as he slammed into the ferals knocking them down like bowling pins. He then sprang up screaming and waving at them to draw their attention. It worked, she came down picking off a couple that had stayed at the door and then rushed in.

"Doctor, are you okay?"

"More or less."

"Do you have the cure?"

"Yes!" he said holding up a sealed vial.

Just then dozens more ferals broke down the back door of the clinic as his two nurses tried in vain to hold them back as the creatures fell upon them draining them dry. Abby then grabbed the doc and flew out the door. Once outside she scooped Owen off the roof and took off in the direction that the rest of the colonists had ran to.

At the other end of the condos Eric appeared shouting to those who remained to come this way as he motioned back to where 'the battle bus' was as Sheriff Bob called it.

It didn't look like they were going to make it when Abby came down with both Owen and Luke. Luke ran back with Eric while Abby and Owen placed themselves in between the people and the oncoming ferals.

Stepping up next to them was Eric and Bob and what few guards remained unloading countless firearms. The ones that weren't brought down by the gunfire were dispatched by the two child vampires as they bought time for the last few survivors that were rushing back to Eric's bus.

"Where are the rest of the children?" Bob asked.

"Ziggy's got em at his bar with the door barricaded!" Eric told him.

"Oh my God." Bob lamented, "How in the Hell are we supposed to get to them?"

"You don't." Abby said as she took off flying in the direction of Ziggy's bar.

"Abby no!" Owen shouted.

"Good lord, is she going after them?" Eric expounded with surprise.

"If she is then we've got to hold them off until she gets back!" Bob said as they turned their guns back towards the oncoming ferals.

Meanwhile Abby touched down at the back entrance to the bar to bear witness to a massacre. The ferals had managed to break down the door and surge in. There wasn't enough left of Ziggy to even tell that he was human anymore, and sadly it was the same for most of the kids. As she watched the ferals savaging their bodies Abby became filled with a fury that she hadn't felt since the pool in Los Alamos. She was ready to set herself upon them when she heard a noise coming from a dumpster next to her. She flipped open the lid to see about half a dozen children stuffed into it. They screamed when Abby found them, thinking that it was a feral that was opening the lid.

"C'mon, let's go!" She ordered them.

Back at the bus, the ferals kept on coming, but Eric was ready as he whipped out a General Electric XM214 Minigun just like the one Jessie Ventura used in the film Predator. The weapon was far from having pinpoint accuracy, but it didn't matter, it was perfectly suited for dealing with a mob as Eric cut loose with it.

"It's bloody chunks time kiddies!" He bellowed as the weapon discharged its arsenal.

Even ferals that didn't get head shots were blasted into too many pieces to matter as they fell in a bloody sheet…but there was still more where they came from.

'Look!" Bob shouted as he pointed up at Abby flying in with half a dozen kids clinging to her for dear life.

She then flew past them as she landed and ushered them onto the bus.

"Where's Nicholas?" Eric yelled.

"I don't know, we got separated, but I don't think we can afford to wait for him!" Bob admitted regretfully.

"Is there anyone else?" Eric asked.

"No, I think we're it!" Bob said back.

"Then let's get the Hell out of here!" Eric bellowed as they made a mad dash for the bus.

They all piled in as Eric jumped into driver's seat.

"Okay, we're here in the bus, but what now? Try to barge through the front gate?" Bob asked.

"Nope. Hey Jimmy, grab the bazooka will ya?" Eric said as he hit the gas and headed strait for the nearest wall.

"Oh you cannot be serious?" Bob exclaimed!

Meanwhile, the guard hung out the side of the bus door with the bazooka in hand as he fired, blowing a good sized hole in the wall they were racing towards.

"Hang on Owen!" Abby said.

"Brace for impact people!" Eric shouted as 'the vampire slayer' smashed through what remained of the perimeter wall and onto an outside roadway sending brick flying in all directions. The ferals started to give chase but were soon outdistanced.

They quickly made their way out of the suburb and into a forested area, but they weren't free and clear yet. People gazed out the back window of the bus to see a shape flying down from behind them that blocked out the moonlight.

"It's him." Abby said.

"My God it can fly too!" One of the civilians shouted.

"Open the doors!" Abby told Eric as her and Owen darted outside.

They got onto the top of the moving bus just as their pursuer did. Abby and Owen were on either side of him and attacked simultaneously but he stopped them both as he grabbed Owen by his throat with his right hand and stopped a swing from Abby with his left.

"Interesting, you have great strength for one so young." He said as he squeezed her fist forcing her down onto her knees in pain.

Meanwhile Owen struggled uselessly in his grasp, at first pulling on the arm that restrained him and then punching and clawing at it. But it was no good, the limb possessed a vigor that went beyond anything conventionally organic. The timeless power of the ages coursing through every blood vessel, sinew and muscle fiber. A full grown Grizzly couldn't have broken his hold.

Just then a door slid open on the roof of the bus, with Bob popping up out of it. In his hands was a rocket launcher.

"Watch out!" He shouted as Abby heaved back and kicked their attacker squarely in the crotch causing him to release her and Owen and double over slightly.

Abby then grabbed Owen and took off flying. The adult vampire looked up at the last second to take a rocket to the chest. With an incredible explosion his flaming body went flying off of the bus smashing through several trees before crashing down somewhere off in the distance.

Abby and Owen then returned to the bus as it sped away. Meanwhile the primordial predator slowly got back up. He was missing patches of skin and large chunks of flesh with even bare bone exposed in some places. However he seemed more concerned with his slightly singed hat as he inspected it closely. He looked down to see a tree limb sticking through his body.

"Well, that's inconvenient." He huffed with a disgruntled sigh putting his hat back on and placing his hands on his hips.

He was currently too severely mutilated to follow, but he was regenerating. He could be patient, time meant nothing to one who was immortal.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Finally having a chance to stop and catch their breath, Bob turned to do a head count. He was horrified by what he saw.

"Forty two people…out of well over six hundred?"

"It could've been allot worse Bob…it could've been none." Eric said looking over his shoulder.

"Yeah…I guess so. Is everyone okay? Anyone hurt?" Bob asked, to which the people on the bus answered that they were fine.

"I uh, hate to rain on that particular parade but…" Doctor Harris said as he turned to reveal a vampire bite on his right forearm.

"Oh God doc." Bob said hanging his head.

"When did that happen?" Abby asked with shock.

"Right before you showed up, when I was trying to keep them from getting through the front door of the clinic."

Everyone knew what being bitten meant, and what the poor doctor's fate was going to be, but Abby then stepped forward.

"You know that you're going to turn, right?" She said.

"Yea."

"What about the unfinished cure?" Owen asked.

"No good, it won't work without what we need in New Haven. So I guess that only leaves one option."

"Not this time." Abby stated.

"What?"

"I give you a choice."

"What choice?"

"To let you die as a man…or to make you like us." Abby revealed as everyone reeled from the bombshell she just dropped.

Just then another survivor decided to make her opinion known.

"Do not let the demon taint your soul! Die as one of God's children as you were meant to!" Gloria spoke up.

"I believe it is his choice to make." Abby chided her with a glower before turning back to Luke, "Luke, what is your choice?"

"Wow, I've never been offered immortality before, guess that's better than winning the lottery." the doctor joked.

"Reject the wicked promise of the beast." Gloria went on.

"I will not lie to you Luke. Being a vampire is a curse, but what I do know is that in a world where there are so few good people left. It would be a better place with you in it than without it." Abby explained.

"Lead me not into temptation." Gloria spat.

"Are you finished?" Abby said with an angry scowl in Gloria's direction.

After that she finally grew quiet.

"I have made my choice…" The doctor began to say, "Death."

Everyone onboard gasped at his decision.

"Are you sure?" Abby asked.

"While I appreciate you trying to help me Abby. I could never be a vampire. I don't want to be. I want to die a human being." He said as he sat down in one of the bus seats, "Take my cure to New Haven, ask for Doctor Versarious…he will know what to do."

"Very well." She said as she walked up to him and placed her hands on his cheeks, "Thank you, for all that you have done and for being so kind to me and Owen." She told him as she planted a kiss upon his forehead.

Then, without warning, she gave his neck a sharp twist that caused everyone to gasp and flinch. His neck had been broken. Death was instant and painless. She then gently laid him back in the seat as she wiped a tear from her cheek. Everyone fell silent afterward, but it did not last long.

"She is to blame for this!" Gloria accused angrily.

"What in the Hell are you talking about?" Bob asked.

"Did you see her eyes? They were the same as his! And they have the same abilities! She brought him here, led them to us!"

"Then why in the Hell did he just try to kill them both?" Bob challenged.

"Merely a deception, a ruse, nothing more! They cannot be trusted! And I for one refuse to ride in this vehicle with them!"

"Hey Gloria? We'll be reaching Hand Of God territory soon, you want us to drop you off?' Eric shouted back sarcastically from the driver's seat.

Her only response to him was a filthy look, which he countered by flipping her the bird.

"You're crazy lady." Corey spoke up.

"Bob, kindly silence your heathen child before I do so myself." She hissed.

"Why? It just so happens that I agree with him."

"I would expect no less from you, another nonbeliever. As worthless as a father as you are a man."

Gloria's last comment managed to raise Bob's ire as he stepped in close to her.

"I'll make you a deal Gloria, you stop talking out of your ass and I promise I won't shove your head up it!" He growled getting right in her face, "In case you haven't noticed we just lost one Hell of a good man, and we lost plenty more back in Shangri-La! So I can assure you that no one is in the mood for your bullshit!"

Gloria said nothing more, but glared at Bob hatefully all the same. He then turned his attention to Eric as he walked up to the driver's seat.

"Do we have enough fuel to get to New Haven?"

"Counting what I have stored on board? Yes, but we'll have to snake our way cross country to avoid the radioactive areas. That means it'll take us longer than it would if we were able to go in a strait line."

"What if we have to refuel in the middle of the night?"

"Got a special compartment built in to access the tank from inside the bus, it's all good."

But just then there was a strange clanging sound that got Bob's attention.

"Uh Eric, what was that?"

"That would be the engine."

"Um, why?"

"Because I was kinda in the middle of tinkering with it when we forced to make our little impromptu departure." He admitted with a slight grimace as Bob hung his head.

"Oh Lord. Will it get us there?"

"Keep your fingers crossed."

"Great."

As Owen listened in he decided to turn to Abby.

"What is New Haven?"

"It used to be Birmingham, Alabama. New Haven is what they call it now. It's one of the last major cities left in the country that is safe and clean. No ferals, no crazy people, no radiation." She told him.

"Hey cute stuff." a voice suddenly said behind Abby as she turned to see Corey standing behind her, "That was pretty friggin scary back there, I'm glad you were there to help us out." He went on.

"So…even knowing what I am, you're not afraid of me?" Abby asked.

"Well, I will admit, if I had known that you were a badass vampire killing vampire I would've definitely used a different come on strategy."

"I'll bet." Abby said with a half smile.

Meanwhile Owen was once again giving Corey the evil eye, which he couldn't help but notice.

"Hey Owen. Just so you know, Abby set me strait after I said some things I shouldn't have. I know that Abby's your girl now, so…" He began to say extending his hand to Owen, "Truce?"

After a few moments of silence, Owen finally gave him his hand.

"Truce." He said back.

"Oh good. I was worried that maybe you were thinking about making a snack out of me for hitting on your girlfriend."

"Owen gave it some thought actually." She said.

"Really?" Corey spoke back with a slightly worried expression.

He looked over at Owen, who did nothing but give him a beady eyed smile.

"Alrighty then." Corey said gulping nervously.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Though it was risky, the bus pulled over so that Doctor Harris could be given a proper burial. Bob and the others considered waiting until the sun was up, but knew that Abby and Owen would want to be present.

Those that knew Luke spoke of him in what could be described as a group eulogy. And even though Gloria was technically the religious member of the group, she offered no words of solace or comfort. Granted had she spoken it more than likely wouldn't have been anything good. And Bob would've been ready willing and able to sew her mouth shut.

When they were finished Abby laid a bouquet of wild flowers she had picked upon his grave.

After that they got back onto the bus and continued on their way.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The bus eventually found itself heading strait for a blockade set up by 'The Hand Of God' cult, who normally forced any cars that came near them off the road at gun point. But when the rather beastly looking 'vampire slayer' came barreling down the road towards them it was a different matter entirely. They opened fire as they watched their bullets bounce off uselessly, eventually being forced to dive out of the way to avoid being ran over as the bus' reinforced plow smashed through their roadblock. Eric laughed almost maniacally as they drove through. When the bullets first started flying everyone dove for cover.

"Relax folks, our windows are bulletproof too." He reassured them.

"How in the Hell did you pull that off?" Bob asked.

"Well, I had the guys keeping an eye out for bulletproof glass on their supply runs, it took about two years of salvage and work but eventually I got it done."

"Well. I'll be damned. You're just full of surprises aren't ya?" Bob said with a smile.

"You know it!"

Hundreds of miles and several hours later…

The bus was just outside of the Wyoming/Nebraska border when Abby picked up on a scent.

"What is it Abby?" Owen asked.

"I can smell them." She said.

"Smell what?" Corey asked.

"Ferals…lots of them."

"Lots? Define lots." Bob suggested.

A moment later there was no longer a need to. As the bus came over a hill that broke into a clearing out of the forest, they saw the unthinkable.

"My God." Bob said, not wanting to believe what his eyes were showing him.

Just then Abby walked up next to him.

"It's a herd." she said.

Ferals by the thousands clogged the road ahead spreading out into the open fields on either side.

"Hang on people, we're going in." Eric said as he put the hammer down and hit the gas.

When the bus finally collided with the ferals it was nothing short of blood drenched carnage as the massive plow on the front started to mow through them.

"Hey! You know what we need? Driving music!" Eric hooted as he quickly slapped a cassette into the bus' tape deck.

Suddenly, the old nursery school rhyme, 'Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round' started to play as ferals were ran down and chewed up beneath the bus' tires.

_The wheels on the bus go round and round. __Round and round. Round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round. All through the town._

As Eric continued on he activated the wipers to clean the copious amounts of blood that was splattering all over the windshield.

_The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish. Swish, swish, swish. Swish, swish, swish. The wipers on the bus go wish, swish, swish. All through the town._

One of the ferals managed to grab onto the side door of the bus as he started to pry it open. Eric nonchalantly moved the handle to open the door causing the feral to get swung out and smacked into a tree on the side of the road.

_The door on the bus goes open and shut, open and shut, open and shut. The door on the bus goes open and shut. All through the town._

Eric all the while was hopping up and down in the driver's seat singing along as he moved his head back and forth. Everyone else present was looking at him with odd expressions.

"I'm not sure who's scarier." Corey said.

"I'm right there with ya son." Bob shot back.

But there was a point in the road where the ferals were so thick that they actually managed to stop the bus in its tracks as they started pushing, pounding and clawing on the outsides. The people on board who knew how to use a gun made use of the portholes that Eric had installed, but there was just too many of them as they proceeded to shake the bus back and forth. The armor was holding up alright, but they were dangerously close to being toppled over.

"We're going to get pushed over for sure!" Bob yelled.

"Oh no we ain't!" Eric shouted back as he reached down with a devilish grin and flipped a switch on the dash.

Suddenly the ferals were bathed in light coming from all sides of the bus' roof. They went up like Roman candles as they scattered in all directions.

"What just happened?" Bob exclaimed in total surprise.

"What are those?" Owen asked.

"Tanning bed lights bucko!" He laughed as they moved through the now feral free road ahead of them.

"Where in the Hell did you get those?" Bob asked.

"There was actually a whole warehouse full of em not too far from town, believe it or not. And we're damn lucky too. I only finished that modification about two weeks ago. Without them we woulda been shit up a creek back there."

"Cool!" Corey squealed.

"Well, I guess we can't make fun of your lifestyle anymore can we Eric?" Bob admitted.

"You got it Bobby! C'mon, who's the man? Who's the man!" He hollered as Abby and Owen started to laugh.

"Abby?" Owen said.

"Yea?"

"Do you think that the worst is behind us?"

"I don't know Owen, I hope so."

"Do you think that Black Hat is dead?"

"Who?"

"You know, the super vampire back there that we fought? Since we don't know what his real name is I decided to give him one. Black Hat seemed as good as any."

"I don't know Owen. I've never seen any vampire take the kind of damage he did and survive. I want to say he's dead, but then again I've never been in the presence of a vampire as ancient and powerful as him either. Let's just hope that one way or the other, we've seen the last of him, I don't like the idea of trying to take him on again."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back in what was once Shangri-la

Nicholas Miller's eyes slowly fluttered open. Considering what his last memory was he never expected to open them again. He remembered being surrounded by bloodshed and death. He remembered trying to fight back with a sledgehammer he had picked up. He remembered the vampire in the coat and hat walking up to him. He remembered swinging the hammer that bounced uselessly off of his jaw. The creature of the night had then smiled at him before knocking him cold.

"Ah, finally awake I see?" The vampire said to him as Nicholas' eyes began to focus on a shape standing before him.

When he came fully around, he found that he was tied and suspended against the fountain of the colony's main courtyard. He looked around him in mortified awe at what was once their proud and happy home. Most of the condos were on fire and the bodies of the dead who had not been turned were strewn and dismembered all over, Men. Women…and children. Ferals fought over their remains like starving hyenas as he watched them tear a screaming newborn in half.

"Noooooo!"

"Like what I've done with the place?" The vampire asked.

"You murdering bastard!"

"Tisk, tisk, you backward mammals aren't even intelligent enough to swear properly. I knew my father thank you very much, I ripped his throat out, but I knew him nonetheless. But enough about me. Let's talk about you, or better yet your friends who got away hmmm?"

"I suppose you expect me to tell you where they are going?"

"That isn't really an issue. With those two little vamps with them I could follow them like a blind bloodhound if I wanted to. No, what I need is information. I want to know what your friends were up to. I have my suspicions of course, but I don't deal in chance, only absolutes. Call it my need to know. That's why you're still alive after all, well, at least for now anyway."

"I will tell you nothing!"

The vampire simply sighed shaking his head.

"How many times have I heard that one before? It always begins the same." He said as he pulled something out of his coat.

"Wha-what is that?"

"Oh this? Just an orange peeler. Harmless looking isn't it? You know, if there's one thing that I've learned about the fine art of torture over the last few thousand years, it's that you've got to be creative. That, and sometimes the most effective tools are the least obvious."

"Di-did you create the ferals?"

"Ferals? How cute, I actually like that name, but no. You can consider me their…general, for lack of a better term."

"Wha-what are you?"

With that question, the vampire's jovial expression faded.

"I am the bringer of the tide, I am the wave that will wash clean this unclean world of the human filth that have claimed it for their own. Okay then, since we've gotten my melodramatic introduction out of the way, let's get started shall we?" He said abruptly smiling again, "Now…yell if it hurts."


	7. Road Trip

About a hundred more miles down the road the bus suffered a blowout. Eric and Bob got out to change the tire as quickly as possible before any ferals or other unwanted guests caught wind of them. Eric had taken the liberty of placing a spare tire on the back of the bus doors and had three other spares stored in a compartment in the back of the bus where he had removed a couple of seats. Everyone was then taken off the bus to minimize the weight including Abby and Owen as the sunlamps were shut off.

"Damn it!" Eric cursed, "I can't handle this kind of stress! Anyone got a Quaalude? No wait screw it, all I need is a ball pin hammer to the face! Has the same effect! Makes English optional!

"What's wrong?" Bob asked.

"With me? Lots!"

"I mean the bus, Eric."

"Oh that. Our jack is busted, without it we can't get this puppy up to swap out the tire."

"Um okay, how about we jerry rig something?"

"Superb idea! All we need is some dog hair, used chewing gum and a singing Mariachi band!"

"Eric…you're a good man, but sometimes you frighten me." Bob admitted with a look of worry.

"Nonsense! When out in the bush with Eric, there is nothing to fear but Eric himself, well that and leprechauns."

"Eric…the bus?"

"Oh yeah, right! What did you have in mind?" He snapped back to reality.

"I don't know a pulley system or something?"

"I didn't bring that kind of gear with me."

"Well how about-" Bob and Eric were both suddenly distracted by the sound of creaking metal as they looked over to see Abby and Owen straining to lift the side of the bus.

"If you guys are going to change the tire I suggest you hurry, we can't hold this thing up forever." Abby told them as they looked on with jaws agape.

After the tire was changed Abby had to sit down, she had never tried lifting that much weight before and it had taken allot out of her. Owen meanwhile had managed to stagger a couple of steps before he flat out collapsed.

"Owen, are you okay?" Abby asked.

"Peachy." He said with a laugh as he flopped back and forth on the ground like a fish out of water, patiently waiting for his healing abilities to restore his pulled muscles.

"It'll be dawn in about an hour, we need someplace to sleep that is safe from the sunlight." Abby explained.

"Well, we could take the other two tires out of the special compartment that Eric installed in the back. Since we got some empty seats we could just throw them there? Once it's empty I think it will do just fine." Bob said.

Back on board the bus though Gloria had something terrible planned as she moved towards the dash, she looked down at the switch that controlled the tanning bed lamps and then back outside at Abby and Owen. She then slowly reached for the button. A split second later the UV lamps came on.

"What the?" Bob exclaimed.

With a unified scream both Abby and Owen burst into flames, but Abby despite her agony had enough of her wits about her to fly over and snatch up Owen. As she flew away with him in her arms she used her body to shield his as she took the brunt of the lights until they had flown beyond their reach.

Back in the bus Gloria wore a gratified sneer.

_Burn you devils._

However her train of thought was interrupted by a ball bat to the head from Corey as she was knocked from the seat and tumbled out of the bus. Corey then jumped in and shut down the lamps. Everyone rushed around to see what was going on.

"What happened?" Corey's father asked.

"She turned on the sun lights!"

"What? Gloria, is that true?"

"I did us all a favor! Tis God's will that they be destroyed!" She spoke still lying on the ground as Bob reached down and yanked her up.

"You evil crazy bitch!" He swore holding her by the collar of her blouse.

"And who is truly the evil ones here? Those monsters, that's who! And who are truly the crazy ones? All of you, for aligning yourselves with them!" She roared as she spat in Bob's face.

Bob then threw her back down upon the ground as he reached up and wiped her spit from his face. It was taking every ounce of willpower that he had not to beat her senseless.

"Dad?" Corey said tugging on his arm as he and everyone else turned to see Abby and Owen behind them.

There Abby stood with Owen in her arms. They were both severely burned but now also soaking wet. They had been fortunate enough to have found a lake nearby to douse their flames, but Owen had passed out from the pain. The only reason that they weren't dead was that the lamps did not put out a UV quotient equal to that of actual sun light, otherwise they never would've survived. The fire had burned their clothes off of them revealing terrible third degree burns on most of their bodies with only scattered patches of skin remaining. The people recoiled at the ghastly sight and the terrible stench.

Abby then gently laid Owen down upon the ground and rose back up with a look on her face that went beyond rage as she started moving towards Gloria. Just then Bob tried to step into her path.

"Abby, I know how you feel, but as much as I hate the bitch you can't just-"

"STEP ASIDE!" She rumbled in a voice that made her sound just as Gloria had described her.

"Dad?" Corey said with a look of worry as he grabbed his father's arm trying to pull him away.

After a few more moments, Bob hung his head and reluctantly stepped back.

"No, you can't just let this abomination have me! Someone, someone please help me!" Gloria screamed as she tried to crawl away, "If you let this happen you will have condemned your souls to the pit of Hell for all time!" She went on as Abby bore down upon her.

Just as she reached her Gloria whipped out a crucifix, holding out in front of herself right in Abby's face.

"Back! Spawn Of Satan!" She bellowed.

Abby's only response was to grab the hand in question as she crushed her fingers around the holy implement that she was holding causing Gloria to wail in misery.

"If there is a God…I don't think he's listening to YOU!" The small vampire rasped with contempt.

Abby then reared back and swiped at Gloria with her other hand, ripping the front of her face clean off as blood and bone fragments sprayed and smacked against the side of the bus. Everyone present let out a collective gasp of horror at the sight. Gloria's brain then slipped out of the gaping hole that was left in the front of her skull as it splattered onto the ground, her body toppling over shortly after.

After ward Abby walked back towards where she had laid Owen as everyone gave her a wide berth. Once she was back at his side she knelt down next to him and started to cry as she cradled him in her arms. Gone was the savage monster, back was the young girl now. Bob then slowly walked up to them.

"Is…is he?"

"He's alive, or as close to it as our kind is. He's a much younger vampire than me. It will be harder for him to heal this than it will be for me. He needs time."

Soon enough they were underway once again, but there was now a fearful tension on the bus that could not be diffused. It resulted in a segregation that had everyone crowded as close to the front of bus as they could with Abby and Owen at the back. Bob decided to go back and check on them. Owen had awakened but was now shaking and convulsing from the torment that he felt. Abby held him tightly, wishing with all of her heart that she could just make his pain magically disappear. They were both still naked, allowing their injuriies to heal some before they reclothed, not that it mattered, the burns obscured anything indecent.

"Abby? Is this a bad time?" He asked.

Her only response was to just look at him, there were still tears in her eyes.

"How's he doing?"

"Still in allot of pain. But the blood that I gave him from Gloria should help speed up his healing process."

After that there was a few moments of awkward silence as Bob struggled with the issue that he wanted bring up next.

"Uh, Abby? Listen. God knows we all owe you so much. For bringing us a possible cure and for helping to save our asses a few times now. But still, I feel the need to sa-"

"Is this the part where you give me a lecture about why killing Gloria was wrong?" Abby cut him off, "Bob? I like you. You're a good man, a good father and I mean no disrespect. But I will say this only once. Anyone who tries to kill Owen…anyone who hurts Owen…anyone who even thinks about hurting Owen….they…will…die…do I make myself clear?" She stated very bluntly.

"Uh…yeah." Bob replied backing down as he slowly turned and walked away.

Abby then returned her attention back to Owen.

About thirty minutes later, after Abby and Owen had settled in to the tire chamber to sleep, the survivors decided to voice their concerns as dawn crept up over the horizon.

"Did you see what she did to her?" One of them asked.

"Yes." Bob replied.

"I'm beginning to wonder if Gloria was right?" Another spoke up.

"I'm no bible thumper, but what happened last night? That was just plain evil." a third person added.

More voices joined in that started to build towards a panic when Bob silenced them all.

"All right that's enough! Now listen up people! I'll be the first to admit that I was just as scared as the rest of you were last night. But I know what I see when I look into their eyes and what I see when they look at each other. They love each other and they're all each other have. And last night, she nearly lost him. Now put yourself in her place and ask yourself, how you would feel? I know that if someone tried to kill my son, it would take every one of you to hold me back from strangling the bastard with my bare hands. All Abby and Owen have tried to do is help us from day one and all that we've given them is a whole lot of shit! Well, that stops here! We need to remember why we are out here! Or what we're trying to accomplish and the lives lost in Shangri-La won't mean a damn thing! Is that understood?" He finished.

Everyone then silently nodded.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Within the tire chamber Abby and Owen slept. Abby had her arms wrapped tightly around Owen, as if she hoped that her touch would somehow speed his recovery. She knew otherwise of course, but she desperately wished it were that simple. Abby was already almost completely healed, but for Owen it would take longer.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The following night Owen was conscious but wasn't moving too much. Though there were still obvious signs of scarring he was feeling better, and they had both recovered enough to put some clothes back on. Luckily there were some on board the bus amidst the supplies that fit them. Owen was currently lying down in one of the bus seats with Abby trying to tend to him.

"No, no more." Owen objected trying to push a jug of blood away that Abby was practically force feeding him, "If I drink anymore I'm going to barf."

Abby had salvaged as much of Gloria's blood that she could with an empty water jug and had been giving it to Owen periodically ever since he had been burned.

"Drink it Owen, the more you take in the faster you'll heal."

"So, what? Take two of these and call you in the morning?" He joked.

"Yes, cause doctor Abby said so." She told him with a smile, "Now hush up and take your medicine she went on shaking her right index finger at him.

Truthfully, despite his protests, Owen loved the attention. Abby was proving to be a perfect companion in so many ways, Not just as a friend and a lover, but as someone who nurtured and looked after him. He couldn't even remember his mother doting on him in such a fashion. As for Abby, she was just happy that he was feeling better, as was evidenced by the return of his sense of humor.

"I'm glad you're feeling better." She said.

"I am now…but the last night…"

"Try not to think about it Owen." She told him reaching out and gently rubbing his cheek.

Owen had always wondered what it felt like as a vampire to be exposed to the sun, was it like when he burned himself in his mother's kitchen when he was six, was it comparable to a really bad sunburn perhaps? Sadly anything he had ever experienced or could think of fell horribly short of the terrible reality. It was a pain like nothing he had ever felt before. If Abby hadn't been there to help him through it he wasn't sure if he would've been able to cope.

Just then Bob walked up to them seating himself in the bus seat right across from them.

"Well Owen, how are you feeling?" He asked.

"Well, I'm still a little crispy and I smell like bacon, but other than that I'm good."

"Amazing." Bob spoke.

"What?" Abby questioned.

"I've been a cop all of my life. I've worked with both fire fighters and paramedics, so I've seen my share of burn victims. But what I'm seeing now is nothing short of unbelievable. Twelve hours. Just twelve hours and he's gone from third degree to first degree burns. It would've taken a normal human days or even weeks with possible skin graphs to recover from that. And you Abby, you can't even tell that you were ever burned at all. I'm guessing that has something to do with being an older stronger vampire I'd wager?"

"Yes."

"Must be nice, being able to heal almost any injury."

"It comes at a terrible price."

"Yeah…I know. Well, I know his story, but I really don't know yours. How did this happen to you if you don't mind me asking?"

"I didn't choose it if that's what you mean."

"So you were turned against your will?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not, not anymore anyway."

"Why?"

"Because knowing what I know now, even if I were given a chance to go back and have a choice. I would choose to go through it all again."

"Good Lord why?"

"Because if I had never been turned, I would never have lived this long and never would've met Owen."

"Even despite what you've been through and the lives that you've taken?"

"I know how morbid that sounds and that there's allot wrong with it. But as Shakespeare once said, 'love is blind'. It wants what it wants and does not care, and I became a slave to it the first moment that I laid eyes on my precious Owen." She said looking down at him causing him to blush, "The happiness that I feel with him is greater than anything that I have ever felt, even compared to back when I was still human. " She finished looking back at Bob.

"Well, I guess that's something that I can kinda understand."

"Really?" Abby mused.

"Yea. When I met the woman who would eventually become my wife and the mother of my son, she was a Jehovah's Witness."

"What happened?" Abby said, awash with curiosity.

"Well, neither her family or her church condoned our being together because I was a 'non-believer' as it were. Witnesses are only supposed to see other Witnesses or convert the person they wish to grow close to, to their faith."

"Did she try to convert you?" She asked.

"Nope, she loved and accepted me completely for who I was."

"So what happened?" Owen inquired.

"Her family disowned her and she was excommunicated from her church. In the blink of an eye, everything that she had ever known in her life was gone, and all because she chose to fall in love with me. I felt really guilty about that and asked her why. What she said to me sounded allot like what you just said. I believe her exact words were…love knows no reason." He told them as they both smiled.

"You speak of her in the past tense, does that mean…"

"Yes, she's dead."

"I'm sorry, was it…"

"No, it wasn't the ferals. She died of cancer back when Corey was only four."

There were a few moments of silence that passed before Abby chose to speak again.

"Bob?"

"Yeah?"

"I just want to say that I'm sorry for snapping at you last night."

"Well, you were angry and rightfully so. I may not condone what you did, but that doesn't mean that I don't understand why you did."

"I get the feeling that the rest of the people on this bus don't feel that way."

"We had a talk about that. I set em strait and they know the score, that's all that matters in the end. You don't need to worry about it."

"Thank you."

"No problem. So how did you two meet, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's kinda a long story."

"We got a long ride."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Damn it!" Eric cursed, staring at the open hood of the bus with a look of defeat.

It was about four o clock in the afternoon, and the 'the vampire slayer' had finally bitten the dust thanks to a severe overheat that caused the engine block to crack.

"So that's it? It's done?" Bob asked.

"Yep. More dead than disco and my higher brain functions."

"How far are we from New Haven?"

"About ten miles."

" Damn, we made it over eighteen hundred miles only to crap out here. Hmmm, we only have a couple of hours until sundown. Let's see, an average person can walk three to four miles per hour. But we're dealing with a group that will only move as fast as its slowest member and we got kids. Even at a brisk pace our chances of getting there before dark are slim."

"Should we risk it?" Corey asked.

"No, we'll stay in the bus for tonight and start fresh at dawn. We'll have plenty of time to get there without having to play a game of beat the clock."

"How will we transport Abby and Owen?" Corey added.

"Would that truck trunk full of weapons you got be big enough for the both of them?" Bob asked turning back to Eric.

"Yeah, if we took all the weapons out, but even if we gave one to every able bodied man we'd still be leaving allot of them behind. And what about our supplies?"

"Well, we'll prepare light carry provisions for each person. Hopefully once we reach New Haven we won't have to worry anymore."

"Worry? Who's worried, not me!" Eric stuttered.

"Eric, have you been inhaling the exhaust again?"

"You can prove nothing!"

Bob's only response was to just shake his head and walk away.

"In a world ruled by the living dead! Eric Bronsky struggles to remain in control of his power tools, his sanity and his bladder! Dun dun dun!" Eric shouted placing his hands on his hips striking a dramatic pose.

Corey quickly followed his dad needless to say.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was after midnight, and everyone was sound asleep aboard the bus while Abby and Owen were perched atop it standing guard. But they hadn't seen anything…yet.

Owen was completely healed now and rather bored to boot. He tried to remedy the situation by getting fresh with Abby.

"Owen…" She started to say as he began caressing her, "Owen…" She said again with a grin, but still he ignored her, "Owen we're supposed to be standing guard."

"We are." He whispered in her ear as he started nibbling on it.

"No, I'm trying to stand guard while you're trying to molest me." She laughed.

"We can do both." He said as his hands started going to naughty places.

"Owen, we really shouldn't, not here anyways."

"Aw, Abbyyyyyy." He whined with a pouty face as he tugged on her arm.

"Don't do that." She said.

"Don't do what?"

"The pouty face."

"Why?"

"Cuz I'm powerless against the pouty face that's why." She smiled.

"Oh really?" He said as his hand slid someplace that made Abby gasp, "Okay. I'm guessing you liked that.

The engine in the bus may have been dead, but Owen had just gotten Abby's started. She abruptly pinned him down on top of the bus, over powering him with her greater strength. She pressed her crotch hard against his making him grunt with desire. Abby and Owen's sex life thus far had been limited to touching and oral, but that didn't mean that they didn't enjoy pressing their bodies against one another and the sensations that went along with it. Abby wanted the consummation of their relationship to be special, but even she wasn't sure where or when it would happen. Abby then wrapped herself around Owen as she floated them off the top of the bus to a soft mound of dirt nearby. In no time they had stripped each other's clothes off and were getting caught up in one another's lust. But just then Abby heard a rustling in the tress off in the distance.

"Owen, I think someone's coming."

"Maybe it's an animal of some kind?"

"No, I smell something."

"What?"

"Smells like…dried flesh?"

"Huh?"

"We better check it out."

As they got up off the ground, Abby scrutinized their surroundings.

"Whatever they are there's several of them, they're trying to stay hidden."

Owen played decoy heading away from the bus as Abby flew overhead, Owen couldn't help but quibble over the situation he currently found himself in.

"_Behold the big scary vampire…running naked through the woods with a stiffy. I bet this never happened to Dracula."_

In the end the plan worked. A seemingly vulnerable young boy alone in the forest after dark proved too tempting to resist as the stalkers in question revealed themselves. As one of them stepped out of the underbrush in front of Owen he recoiled. He never thought he would ever see anything that was uglier or smelled worse than a feral, but he was now. The figure before him stood wearing raggedy clothes that looked to be made of skins…but it wasn't animal skin. In his hand was pickaxe. His face reeked of filth and dried blood as he bore a decayed smile full of rotten teeth that had bits of flesh stuck in them.

"Cannibals." Abby realized.

With a high pitched screech that sounded anything but human he charged at Owen, but the young vampire caught the pickaxe swing and then punched him in the throat crushing his assailant's larynx and destroying his vocal chords.

"You are entirely too loud." Owen said as the cannibal fell to the ground grabbing at his own neck.

Abby came flying down in front of two more with a very unpleasant look upon her face.

"Do you have any idea what you interrupted?" She grumbled.

As they charged with machetes in hand she effortlessly punched her right fist through the first right before disarming the second…literally. She then twisted his head a full three hundred and sixty degrees.

She turned to see another staring at her, or more to the point parts of her naked body. But he wasn't staring at her in a sexual way, it was as if he was sizing her up. Like staring at a certain cut of meat in a butcher shop. Abby had to admit, as a creature that was forced to feed off of other people, she now realized just how creepy it was to have someone else look at her as food. He then charged forward with his arms outstretched. Abby shuddered with revulsion at what he was obviously thinking as she grabbed his arms and broke his elbow joints backwards. His scream of pain was silenced when she ripped out his throat. Another tried to sneak up on Abby from behind, but she already knew he was there. For that matter so did Owen.

"Hi there." He said hanging upside down from a tree directly above him as he reached down and pulled him up, followed by the sound of a breaking neck.

Owen then pounced on another that he found hiding in the bushes.

"So you like to eat people huh? Well, here's a switch, I'm gonna eat you!"

Meanwhile Abby was suddenly shot by an arrow to her back, she spun around only to take another to the chest. She immediately pinpointed two archers in the darkness as she rushed towards them. Several more arrows found their mark but still she kept coming. The first she skewered with his remaining arrows as the other archer took off running. When she caught up with him she strangled him with the band of his own quiver before shattering his skull like a ripe grapefruit.

After the last of the Hills Have Eyes rejects were dealt with, Owen looked around to see where Abby had gotten to.

"Abby!" He screamed when he saw her walking up to him full of arrows.

"Meh, I'm okay." She said as she nonchalantly started yanking the arrows out of herself, "Could you get the one in my back?" She asked turning her back to him as he yanked it out with an awkward wince.

The arrow holes then healed quickly.

"Do you think they heard anything back at the bus? Maybe we should get dressed in case someone comes out?"

"Or we could just whisk up into the tress and pick up where we left off?" Abby suggested with a lewd smile.

There Abby stood, covered head to toe in gore, but still wearing the most absolutely adorable smile that Owen had ever seen.

"How about we find a lake instead?" He offered with a somewhat awkward grin as he looked down at himself as well.

"Sounds like fun." She said as she turned and shook her behind at him before taking off with Owen in hot and horny pursuit.


	8. End Of The Road

I want to give a shout out to TorontoBatFan for helping me with allot of ideas in regards to this chapter, you're the best! :)

Also want to warn readers about another graphic sex scene.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The following morning the Shangri-La survivors set out on foot with Abby and Owen tucked away safely in the big truck toolbox as Bob had suggested. The able bodied men of the group took turns carrying it in groups of two as they made their away along stopping to rest occasionally. Once again they owed Abby and Owen a debt for disposing of the local cannibals the night before that might have otherwise proved dangerous. Thanks to that it was an uneventful trek. They reached the outskirts of New Haven by around noon.

"Okay, for now I need the rest of you to stay here while I plead my case inside, I'll send for you when I am finished." Bob said as he headed towards the main gate, which looked like something out of the movie King Kong.

New Haven was surrounded by an immense wall that encircled the entire city. Perched atop the wall pointing outward were tanning bed lamps similar to the ones that Eric had installed on top of the bus. At the main gate was essentially a small army, it made the security methods that they used in Shangri-la seem rather poultry in comparison. It truly was a fortress against the vampires.

"Who are you?" One of the guards asked.

"My name is Bob Williams, I'm the former Sheriff of the community of Shangri-la."

"What business brings you to New Haven Sheriff?"

"Survivors seeking refuge for one. Our colony was destroyed by an invasion of vampires." Bob said as the guards started exchanging worried glances at each other, "What? What's wrong?"

"About a week ago three people from a settlement about five hundred miles north arrived here telling us the same thing."

"Three people? Five hundred miles? How did they survive that long with just three of them?"

"When they first started there were thirty of them."

"I see." Bob said hanging his head, realizing just how fortunate their group had been after all.

"What else brings you here?"

"I need to meet with your town's leaders and speak to a Doctor Versarious."

"Doctor Versarious? Anton Versarious? You know him?"

"No. But our town doctor was a former student of his, a Doctor Luke Harris. He has given us important research that may lead to a real cure for the vampire disease."

"Cure? But there is no cure."

"That's what we used to think."

"Why is the rest of your party staying back there?"

"We have a responsibility to safe guard the work of Doctor Harris. I must speak with your officials to guarantee that the utmost care be taken with handling what we have brought with us, it was…the doctor's dying wish."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

In no time Bob was cleared for entry and conversing with the town leaders. After pleading his case, approval was given and a meeting was arranged with Doctor Versarious. Once inside his office he was greeted by a man in a long white lab coat with frazzled gray hair.

"Doctor Versarious I presume?" Bob asked.

"Well, I ain't Doctor Livingston that's for sure." The aged medical practitioner glibed with a slight grin. "I've been told you have something important to give me, please, make yourself more comfortable." The doctor said gesturing Bob towards a chair in the corner of the room, he took notice of Bob's obvious anxiety and exhaustion, "Would you like some gin? It's my only weakness."

"What?"

"Gin my good man, and I ain't talking cards mind you."

Bob smiled at the good doctor's favorable bedside manner and graciously accepted as the scientist got out a bottle that he kept hidden in his desk and poured a couple of glasses. Once that was done Bob proceeded to regale him with everything that had transpired up until that point. He was understandably skeptical.

"Well, Mr. Williams, it's an amazing story, that much I can say. But you don't seriously expect me to believe it do you?"

"If you can't believe me," He started to say as he reached into his pocket, "Then believe this." he said handing over what Luke had given to them.

The doctor than slowly walked up and took the vial from his hand.

"Is this the proposed miracle cure that you spoke of?"

"Not yet, but according to your former student, it will be once you get done with it."

Doctor Versarious walked over to his microscope and dabbled but a fraction of it onto a slide. After a few seconds Bob noticed his expression beginning to change from curiosity, to shock, to extreme awe.

"Oh…my…God." He muttered.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Immediately Doctor Versarious found himself standing outside of what at one time had been Birmingham's city hall. It was where New Haven's council generally convened. Before going in he made a desperate attempt to fuss with his wild and uncooperative hair, that looked as if he had walked up and shoved a fork in a light socket.

"For some reason they don't pay any attention to me when it's like this." He grumbled to himself.

In short order he went inside and revealed his findings to New Haven's council.

"You want us to allow these two abnormal vampires entry into the city?" The head chairman spoke.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have had vampires brought within the confines of the city for experimentation in the past."

"This time it's different. These vampires sound potentially more dangerous than anything that we have ever seen before."

"They came of their own free will. They were not forced or coerced. They want this plague to end as much as we do."

"Why do they need to be allowed access? You have what you need already don't you?"

"I may need fresh DNA to work with as I process what is needed. Just as my former colleague did."

"I'm afraid that we can't condone this Doctor, it's too risky.

"The risk is necessary. Esteemed members of the council, I have known some of you since before the world ended, when have I ever steered you wrong? You know me to be neither rash or impulsive. We have a chance to end this menace once and for all. Shall we take it? Or shall we just keep hiding behind our wall? And if my former student's research is correct, then there may come a night when our wall no longer protects us." Versarious declared as the council members displayed concerned looks, "So ladies and gentlemen…what shall it be?"

Trusting Versarious' judgment the council finally arranged for the Shangri-la survivors to be brought in along with their precious cargo.

Once nightfall came Abby and Owen were standing in the doctor's office as he ogled them like a happy child on Christmas morning.

"Unbelievable! I never would've believed that vampires like this even existed. I have a million questions! And a billion tests that I want to run!"

In due course everything from strength, to reflexes, to cognitive and olfactory exams were run on the two vampires. It was discovered that Abby had eyesight comparable to an eagle, hearing that equaled an owl's, speed and reflexes that mirrored a striking cobra, a sense of smell that surpassed even bears and sharks and a strength limit of around ten tons. Owen of course being the same kind of vampire had all of the same abilities but because he was technically a newborn vampire in a sense, those abilities were far less than the much older Abby. And along the way he discovered something else rather interesting.

"Goodness gracious your sex hormone levels are ridiculously high!" The Doc exclaimed, are you two...?" He started to ask rather delicately.

"Um...yea." Abby answered rather sheepishly.

"Unbelievable."

"I'm guessing that's not normal?" Owen chimed in.

"Not for the ages that you both 'appear' to be. Granted children can start going through puberty as early as eight or ten years old but that still doesn't explain your testosterone and estrogen levels. Abby, if you don't mind me asking, when did you two..."

"A few weeks ago."

"And how long have the two of you been together?"

"We were together for several months before we were separated by the feral outbreak years ago."

"And nothing like this happened then?"

"No."

"Can you recall anything specific that happened around the time you became sexually active that would have caused that to change?"

Abby stopped to think for a moment.

"Yes, it was after I made Owen a vampire like me." She realized.

"I see."

"Do you think that has something to do with it?" Abby asked.

"Well, it's just a theory, but I think it might. My guess is that you weren't attracted to Owen in that way while he was still human because he wasn't the same species as you."

"What?" Owen said in a somewhat confused fashion.

"Well, think about it. You both appear human, but the biological differences between you and humans are astounding, these tests we've been running prove that. You may as well be completely different animals for all intents and purposes. And like animals in the wild, certain biological signals are sent off that attract potential mates. In all truth humans used to be the same way, but we cover and mask these natural scents with ridiculous amounts of perfume and cologne to the point that our own natural musks have been all but nullified."

"So you think that's it?" Abby asked.

"It very well could be, your hormone levels are at least double that of an adult human. I've never been one for reading vampire folklore, but I do recall some stories dealing with a fair amount of eroticism. I always assumed it was merely creative license since I never found such things in the usual vampires I've studied, but there appears to be real scientific evidence to support it now in your breed.

"I see." Abby said as she pondered what Versarious had just explained.

"It's mind boggling." He commented.

"Doctor, we appreciate all the answers you're giving us, but what about the vampire cure?" Abby interjected.

"Yes, well…there's a slight catch with that I'm afraid."

"What catch?" Abby asked.

"Well, I don't have what is needed."

"What?" Owen spoke.

"Luke said you would have it." Abby said.

"I did, in my old lab in Franklin Tennessee. About a hundred and seventy-six miles north from here."

"So why not go get it?" Owen asked.

"It's radiation area, a fallout zone from the nuke that took out Nashville back when all the major cities across the country were bombed. Even with a biosuit, the contamination there is too intense for anything human to survive."

"Then we shall get it." Abby told him.

"What?" Versarious remarked with obvious surprise.

"Radiation doesn't affect our kind." Abby explained.

"Yes, I seem to recall now that there were reports of movement still in some the cities after the bombs dropped." The doctor recollected.

Just tell us what we are looking for and where to find it." Abby stated.

"What we need is called Tinidazole. It is an anti-parasitic drug used against protozoan infections. It is widely known as a treatment for a variety of amoebic and parasitic infections. It was tried initially against the vampire contagion, but wasn't strong enough to overcome it on its own. But, combined with what Doctor Harris created, it WILL stem the tide of this virus. The address of my lab there is 1132 Oak boulevard."

"Will it still be usable, after being exposed to the radiation?" Owen asked.

"Yes, the deep freeze unit I placed my samples in is lead lined. And the residual radiation should have decreased enough by now to make it safe to remove if you do so quickly."

"Very well, but it will take time, traveling that distance and having to stop for slumber during the day." Abby pointed out.

"Well, would it make you feel any better if I told you there was a way for you to make the trip there and back in one night?" The doctor expounded as Abby and Owen both cocked an eye brow.

Soon after they found themselves on board a twin engine Cessna bound for Franklin. The plan was to land outside the radiation zone and drop them off, then wait for their return. As they flew along Owen couldn't help but notice that Abby looked uneasy.

"Abby? Are you okay?"

"No, not really." She said nervously.

The pilot looked over his shoulder and asked if she was afraid of flying, to which she responded, 'only in an airplane'.

A short time later.

As they made their way through the city, there were the obvious signs of chaos that resulted from what had been a rushed and panicked evacuation as people who had lived there tried to flee from the ferals and the coming nuclear bombardment. As for the ferals themselves, Abby and Owen encountered a few, but nothing that they couldn't handle. The creatures it seemed had at least grown intelligent enough to know that nothing human lived in the big cities anymore and made their way into the wilderness seeking prey there.

Finally they found the lab in question, a branch of Corning Clinical Laboratories, which had been established in 1982. The lab was surprisingly still locked, but breaking in was an easy matter for two vampires with enhanced strength as they ripped the door from its hinges. Abby then pulled out a map that detailed the compound that had been given to her by Doctor Versarious. Once inside they headed to the room in question as they walked up to and opened the freezer containing the compound they sought. After a few minutes of sorting they found the one they were looking for. They turned to leave when…

"Leaving so soon?" Black Hat said to them with a smile.

"Holy crap it's him!" Owen blurted out as Abby slowly placed the vial back on the counter behind her.

"I am displeased with you little one, as would be our queen." Black Hat said as he began to casually stroll around the room fumbling and toying with various things as he spoke.

"Queen?" Abby questioned.

"The progenitor of our race, the creator of every kind of vampire that has ever existed on this planet. The Empusae, the Lamia, the Asanbosam, the Bhuta, the Langsuir, the Jiang Shi, Nosferatu, and even our breed, the sanguijuela. Of course there were also the ones who came before."

"Before?" Owen stepped in.

"Yes. The pure bloods. Our prehistoric ancestors. I tell you, you don't know what power is until you've seen a dozen of them bring down a t-rex."

"But how could you know that if you were not created yet?" Abby asked.

"Because when the queen created me, gave me her blood. Her thoughts, her memories became my own. She has existed since the dawn of time. But then that pesky meteor came along about 65 million years ago wiping out both the dinosaurs and our brethren. Our queen survived, but barely, forced into a state of deep hibernation. When she would finally awaken millions of years later, she would find that the world had changed. Continents parted. New oceans and mountains born while others vanished. Strange new creatures she had never seen before and then of course there were…the humans. Vile hairless primates who infested the Earth like a plague of insects.

She attempted to start anew, to repopulate, but the wretched homo-sapiens flourished in too great a number and nearly hunted them into extinction. She realized that our race's best chance for survival was anonymity. So she created the first hybrid, the first human vampire…me. I was but a humble farmer in what was once Mesoamerica over six thousand years ago when she came calling one fateful night. That night I was changed forever. It was meant to be a new beginning for our kind, and it was of sorts. But after countless centuries our race faces extinction once again, being wiped out by the same talking monkeys that are slowly destroying the very planet we live on. A planet that was ours long before it was theirs. So she created, the ferals as you call them. To wipe out the human filth."

"So the ferals are her new breed?" Owen asked.

"Don't be silly, they're just the cleanup crew. They are simply paving the way for the next generation. The ferals are cannon fodder, meant to weaken the enemy before we move in for the kill. There shall be a newer, better, stronger breed, based on my bloodline. The kid gloves are off. It's us or them and this world shall be ours once again. Of course, none of this can happen if your pesky little cure gets in the way of things."

"How did you even know?" Abby inquired.

"Oh please, I knew what was going on from the moment that you bit your little boy toy. It was akin to a ripple effect from a drop of water, one that I felt from clear across the country. No vampire has ever done what you have. I decided to investigate, the rest that I needed to know I learned in Shangri-la. You had a pretty good lead on me until your little bus broke down, that allowed me to catch up. I then drifted down into New Haven unseen. There are advantages to being an old school vampire that can pass itself off as human. After that I learned of your little plan I followed you here."

"Where is this…queen?" Abby asked.

Black Hat hesitated before answering, as he seemed to be overcome by obvious emotion.

"She is no longer among us. She did not survive the nuclear fire bombings. She knew that nuclear strikes were inevitable, that's why when on the move she always steered clear of the major cities. But a stray nuke caught her off guard in mid transit. She was in the town of Chillicothe, Ohio when they started to drop. All that remains of the town now is a smoking crater. But her strength, her senses and her memories live on in me. I shall finish what she has started.

And may I add that you sicken me. You are an apex predator, granted wondrous abilities and immortality by our queen and you dare to align yourself with the human vermin? But then again, you've been trying to deny your true nature ever since the day that you were turned. But fear not, I will end your existence for you so that you need not let it trouble you any further. One who so wantonly rejects the queen's gifts is undeserving of them. " He finished with a snarl as he raced forward.

Before Abby or Owen could even flinch, Black Hat had a death grip on both of them as he proceeded to crush their throats.

"Let's play pop the weasel!" He jested as his hold tightened.

But what Black Hat didn't know, was that during the course of his self righteous monologue Abby had slowly reached behind her and slipped her right hand around a container containing a viscous liquid. Abby knew jack about chemistry, but she did know what the word acid meant. It was then that she shattered the container against Black Hat's face.

He released them as he staggered back screaming. The acid turned out to be hydrochloric and highly corrosive as it practically melted the eyes out of sockets and destroyed his sense of smell. Abby lunged forward slapping her hands together on the sides of his head effectively rupturing his ear drums. Robbed of all his senses at least for a few moments Abby pounced upon him as she sank her teeth deep into his neck, Owen quickly followed suit. But eventually Black Hat was able to throw them off sending them crashing to opposites side of the room as Abby smashed into a shelving unit full of glass beakers while Owen slid across a table demolishing everything that was on it before smacking into a wall.

But Abby's plan had worked.

Ever since Owen had first suggested that Black Hat may not be dead, she had been considering what to do should they encounter him again. For Abby the answer was eventually as brilliant as it was simple.

Blood.

For vampires of any and every kind, blood wasn't just life, it was power. Now they had his.

The two smaller vampires charged forward attacking simultaneously while Black Hat was still in the process of regenerating. They laid into him with a series of strikes as Owen targeted his abdomen while Abby aimed for his head and upper torso with the assistance of her flying ability. The combined assault continued to push him back until they connected with a dual punch that sent him smashing through the wall of the lab and clear outside.

As he got back up to his feet staggering Owen put a stiff kick into his right kneecap dropping him to one knee right before Abby bolted in with an elbow to the chin. They both leaped on top of him pummeling away mercilessly until Owen managed to slide down behind him wrapping his arms around his waist. He then threw him backwards into a reverse German suplex, revealing that he had clearly watched entirely too much pro wrestling in his youth back in Los Alamos. Abby and Owen advanced again only to have both of their swings caught by Black Hat as he slowly lifted his head…he had finally regenerated.

"My turn." He said right before he yanked then apart and then slammed them back together putting them in a daze.

Black Hat then backhanded Owen aside sending him crashing through the front living room window of a house as he spun back around trying to connect with a downward swinging punch on Abby. But she leaped over it flying over his back. As she flew over him she simultaneously wrapped her arms around his waist using her inertia and momentum to flip him over backwards spiking his head violently into the pavement.

She followed this up with several roundhouse lefts and rights until he ducked one of the swings and gave her an uppercut that sent her flying upwards crashing through an electrical pole. Her body smashed through it cleaving it in two before coming back down. He was about to move in on her when Owen came charging back in. But Black hat was ready as he whipped around giving him a sickening clothesline that flipped him head over heels and careening into the side of a car. Black Hat turned his attention to Owen walking toward him only to have Owen rip lose the driver's side door of the car he had slammed into and smack it across Black hat's face.

He wailed on him with it again and again until the much older vampire caught it and gave Owen a stiff strait punch that sent him flying back hard into another structure across the street. But at that moment the electrical pole that Abby had smashed through suddenly shattered across his back into splinters as the live wires wrapped around him sending massive amounts of voltage surging through him as he struggled to get free. He eventually did, but not quickly enough to dodge another attack. Abby and Owen both had cars in their hands and swung them together on Black Hat at the same time sandwiching him in between them with an incredible crashing sound.

Disoriented by the assault he was momentarily vulnerable as Abby wrapped her arms around him in a crushing bear hug while Owen got a firm grip on his head.

"Pull Owen! Rip his head off!" She shouted to him, but just then the unthinkable happened.

"Abby, something's wrong! I feel myself getting weaker!"

"_Oh no, the temporary strength boost from Black Hat's blood is wearing off!" _Abby realized.

"Looks like you're out of time." Black Hat said as he broke free of Abby's grasp.

He then reached up grabbing Owen and drilled him down on top of Abby with brutal force. Before they could fully recover Black Hat flung a three hundred pound manhole cover at them that mowed them both down sending them colliding into and destroying a fire hydrant as water jetted up into the sky. Nearby the live wires from the downed electrical pole sparked gasoline leaking from one of the cars that Black Hat was hit with as it exploded behind him. Abby looked up to see Black Hat picking up the flaming car and throwing it at them.

"Down Owen!" Abby yelled tackling him out of harm's way as the car flew by them and into a gas station resulting in an incredible explosion with a fireball that plumed skyward.

The shockwave of the blast knocked them both silly as they hurtled through the air and came down hard. Black Hat then walked up to them as he reached down and picked up Owen. With little effort he broke his left elbow joint causing Owen to cry out in misery. He then connected with a debilitating right hook to Owen's sternum. The young vampire could feel his ribs crack on impact as the punch sent him flying off somewhere in the distance.

"And then there was one." Black Hat said as he reached down and wrenched Abby up by her wrists, "Let's make a wish." He said as he started to pull on her arms.

But Abby thrust both of her feet up into Black hat's chin stunning him just enough to cause him to release her. She then ducked through his legs and hopped onto his back wrapping her right arm around his neck in a chokehold. He could've easily overpowered her of course, but honestly he felt like having a little fun as he took off into the sky with Abby in tow. He then sped towards an office building.

"_Oh crap!" _Abby thought right before they smashed through the wall of the structure.

They demolished their way through several cubicles and another wall before bursting out through a window on the other side. As they exited Abby was barely hanging on Black Hat veered back around and then shoved Abby's face into the side of the structure digging a furrow through it before releasing her. She plummeted down cracking the concrete when she hit and tumbling some distance before she finally stopped.

Black Hat then casually flew down after her and sauntered over to where her battered body was.

He then grabbed Abby and heaved her up over his head before bringing her back down breaking her back over his right knee. She screamed in agony as he brought her down, he then tossed her away from him like so much garbage. He slowly strode forward as she tried to lift off the ground with her flight only to be kicked in the head and sent flying back into the lab that they had first started fighting in. Abby suddenly realized that she couldn't feel her legs as she started to pull herself across the floor.

"So this is how it ends for the so called savior of humanity. As you die, so shall their last hope die. For I am the queen's right hand. Her wrath given flesh. And you shall pay for your betrayal with your life." He threatened as he followed her in.

Once inside he looked over at the counter where Abby had laid the drug they had came for.

"Ah yes, the lynchpin to your precious cure." Black Hat said as he strolled over to it and snatched it up in his right hand…after which he crushed it as he let the contents of the vial drip and drain through his fingers, "Well, so much for that."

"Do you think I'd be dumb enough to leave it out for you? I swapped it when you weren't looking." Abby revealed as Black Hat shot her an annoyed look that quickly changed to amusement.

"Fine then, I'll just destroy the entire thing." He said as he jaunted towards the freezer.

But just then a car came crashing through the sidewall of the lab with Owen behind the wheel. The town of Franklin just happened to be right outside the EMP zone of the nuclear blast that had contaminated it, otherwise the car never would've started in the first place. Owen didn't know how to drive, but luckily for him, the car was an automatic. It slammed into Black Hat as they went demolishing their way through a wall into an adjacent room. But Black Hat abruptly planted his feet and smashed his fists down into the hood. It ended up mimicking the effect of the car colliding head on with a tree as Owen ejected through the windshield…but that was in fact his plan all along. In Owen's right hand was a chainsaw running at high speed. When Black Hat had booted him across town earlier he had ended up landing in a hardware store full of tools. He had then broke into a car that still had the keys left in the ignition.

As Owen soared towards Black Hat the ancient bloodsucker threw his arms up in an instinctive self defensive gesture. The saw than sliced his right forearm clean off just barely missing his head by centimeters as Black Hat deflected him. Owen ended up crashing headfirst into a large tank in the corner of the room. He put a massive dent in it leaving him in a stupor as Owen bounced off of it and fell to the floor. The adult vampire looked down in disbelief at his severed limb as he began cursing in a fury. The dented tank behind him then cracked as a brief spurt of what it contained splashed out across Black Hat's other arm. He looked down in shock as he watched the appendage partially freeze from its contact with the strange chemical. Abby meanwhile, though still partially paralyzed had managed to levitate off the floor and shoot strait at Black Hat. She had seen what came out of the tank, and even though she wasn't sure what is was, it seemed far from healthy to vampires. He looked from his distraction only to be speared head on as Abby knocked him back into the tank. This time the tank was ruptured as the strange liquid began to pour out of it washing all over him.

After Abby collided with him she fell backwards from the impact and rolled across the floor. In the meantime a strange mist seemed to roll off of the fluid as it drenched Black Hat's body. The vapor obscured him from sight for a few moments but he eventually walked out of it…or more to the point…he tried to. As he stepped forward he suddenly felt his limbs begin to stiffen and freeze. He could feel his body rapidly dropping in temperature as his mind boggled at what was befalling him.

What Black Hat didn't realize was that he had just been saturated in liquid nitrogen as his physical form began to glaciate where he stood.

As he struggled to take another step, his right foot froze to the floor and broke away from his leg as he fell forward to his knees.

"What's happening? No!" He spat as he looked up to see Abby hovering right in front of him right before he froze completely.

With a look of disgust, Abby heaved back and thrust her right fist clean through Black Hat's skull. The resulting blow reverberated throughout his entire body as he shattered into a million petrified pieces.

After that Abby allowed herself to drop back to the floor with a thud. She was grievously injured and exhausted. Owen then limped over to where she lie, every move taking painstaking effort as he felt his broken ribs shifting this way and that. He then leaned down next to her, his left arm still dangling uselessly at his side. He reached down placing his right hand upon Abby's cheek as she smiled up at him despite the pain she was in.

"We…w-we did it Owen…we…beat him." She muttered.

"I…I didn't think we would, I thought we were…dead meat." He said with a wince.

"We nearly were."

"The…the drug?"

"Back in the freezer in the other room."

Owen then languidly forced himself back up as he doddered into the next room and took the vial back out. He then picked it up and shuffled back to where Abby was.

"Yay…we won. Can we go home now?" Owen asked.

"Best idea I've heard all night." She grinned back.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Bob was the first to greet them when the plane got back to the hangar back at New Haven, but he was not ready for what he saw as Owen slid out of the plane's door with Abby in his arms.

"Jesus Christ, what happened?"

"Black Hat happened." Owen groaned.

"What? Where is he?"

"Dead." Abby said.

"You killed him? Amazing!"

"Well, it wasn't easy." Owen grunted.

"Did you get the drug?" Bob asked as Owen pulled it out of his pants pocket.

"Then it was worth it."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back at Dr. Versarious' lab Abby and Owen were fed liberal amounts of blood to help speed their regeneration. Bob however found it difficult to be in the same room with them in their current condition. Sure he knew what they really were. He knew that they were vampires, that they were immortal, that weren't even technically human…but that wasn't what they looked like at this moment. The blood, the bruises, the broken bones. At this moment, they looked like poor innocent children…who had been put through sheer Hell.

But Abby and Owen didn't care in the least. They reached out from their adjacent infirmary beds and held hands smiling at each other. In the end they had succeeded, and that was what mattered.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

After a few nights of rest Abby and Owen were as good as new and decided to go out into New Haven one night to see the sights. They had decided not to reveal themselves to the public for fear of how some would react. Though the residents of New Haven knew that they lived among them, only Dr. Versarious, their friends from Shangri-la and the New Haven council actually knew what they looked like. In time Abby and Owen would become urban legends of sorts. The townsfolk discussing and telling stories of their trials and tribulations. The most humorous of all were the children of the city, debating about their powers and play pretending. At New Haven's Memorial Park, where children often gathered and played, Abby and Owen watched and listened from a distance with amusement as they spoke.

"I heard she lifted a schoolbus over her head, with one arm!"

"Bull, who told you that?"

"One of the kids who seen her do it that used to live in Shangri-La!"

"You're full of it, she ain't that strong."

"Her and Owen together could lift it I bet! We're talking atleast Spiderman strength!"

"No way, she'd have to atleast weigh three-hundred pounds to pull that off!"

Meanwhile Abby took exception to the suggestion of her possible weight.

"What did he just say?" She grumbled as Owen had to hold her back.

"She wouldn't need to lift it," A third child interrupted, "She'd just use her yellow eye beams to blow it up."

"Eye beams? You're nuts, she isn't Superman!"

"Close enough, she can fly you know!"

"Hey were's Jimmy, he was supposed to meet us here to play."

"There he is." Another child spoke up as little Jimmy rushed up with a small black hat in his hands.

"Sorry guys, had to remember to grab this."

"Where'd you get that?"

"I borrowed it from my dad, cool huh? And you know what this means, I get to be the evil train vampire guy this time!"

"Fine," A young girl spoke up, "That means that I get to kick your butt!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" The girl challenged as all of the children took off running.

Meanwhile Abby and Owen couldn't contain themselves any longer as they burst out laughing. Later they returned home as they got into the shower together. Abby wasted no time in touching Owen in a variety of suggestive ways.

"Naughty girl." He giggled as her hands brushed over very sensitive areas.

"Naughtier boy." She shot back as they leaned in and started kissing each other, the warm spray of the water from the shower washing over their bodies as they did so.

Owen took notice of Abby pausing for a brief moment as she held the soap in her hands.

"Abby, is something wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just that I never realized how much I loved and appreciated having soap until I went some five years without it." She admitted as they both started to giggle.

Afterward Owen carried Abby out of the shower in his arms as they walked towards their bed. The home that they had taken up residence in had a built in bomb shelter with no windows, thick concrete walls and a shower. They had decided to make it their bedroom. As he laid her down upon the bed they began to slowly and gently kiss and caress each other in the fashion that they normally would leading up to their sexual escapades.

"Did you want to do what we did the last time...where we were upside down on each other?" Owen asked almost sheepishly. Though Owen had managed to get past his inhibitions in regards to being intimate with Abby, talking about some of the things that they did still made him feel awkward at times.

"I was thinking that we could try something else." She said as she wrapped her legs around him and started pulling him up against her as he came dangerously close to entering her as Owen's eyes practically bulged out of their sockets in surprise.

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't want to push you if you're not ready."

"Yes. Owen I've been wanting to this with you since that first night that I touched you." She said as she reached up and kissed him.

"I remember from my school health class that sometimes it hurts when girls do it the first time."

"I guess we'll just have to see."

"I just wanted to be sure, I mean we don't have to if you-" Owen started to say before Abby cut him off with a kiss as she pulled him down on top of her.

Owen positioned himself over top of her as she slipped her arms around him, but then he did something that she didn't expect as he rolled with her placing her on top of him.

"What are you doing?"

"If we do it this way you'll be in control. You'll know what feels good and what won't. That, and I don't want to hurt you."

"Owen, you've seen me shot, stabbed, set on fire, pummeled and smashed through walls. And you're worried about hurting me?" She giggled.

"Yeah, I know how silly it sounds, but it just feels…right." He admitted with a blush.

Abby couldn't help but smile at her lover's courtesy, a true gentleman indeed.

Abby then slowly shifted her body until she was in the right position for him to enter her. She suddenly realized just how nervous she was. But then again she was technically still a virgin after all, as was Owen from a pure intercourse standpoint.

"Are you ready Owen?" She said breathlessly.

"Uh huh." he replied just as anxiously.

Finally…she slid down on him. There was a moment of discomfort, but it passed quickly. Considering the kind of pain that she had endured in the past from so many things, it was inconsequential.

They both let out a simultaneous gasp of pleasure. For several moments neither of them moved. They simply basked in the amazing new sensations that they were both feeling for the first time.

Then…Abby began to rock.

It was slow at first. Abby used tentative and timid motions as they both for lack of a better term got a feel for how this went. But soon enough she started moving faster. She didn't fully understand what she was feeling, but she knew enough to know that it felt wonderful. What she did not know was that each time she bore down upon Owen he was inadvertently stimulating her G-spot as she continued pushing herself towards a steadily building rapture that she couldn't wait to surrender to. Owen sat up wrapping his arms around her as she continued moving, eventually but she then pushed him back down on his back as she started to quicken her pace.

Meanwhile Owen was just as awash in his own sexual euphoria. Though Abby's mouth and hands had given him what he thought was indescribable pleasure in the past, what he was feeling now was on an entirely new level as he squirmed beneath her. He suddenly became aware of his own quickly building release.

_"No! Not yet! I can't, I can't finish before she has! Owen you dummy, gotta think about something else gotta, gotta…crap I can't think! Ohhhhhh God this feels sooooo good!"_

"Abby! Abby I can't hang on! If you don't stop I'm gonna-"

"Let it go! I want you to!" She moaned as she increased in speed, her pelvis grinding on Owen faster than any normal human female could ever hope to move. She wanted her release, she needed it, she needed it NOW!"

Likewise poor Owen couldn't hold out any longer.

"Abbyyyyyyyyy!" He screamed.

"Oweeeeeeeeen!" She cried out as they both released in unison.

Their coinciding orgasm was as destructive as it was gratifying. In the throes of her superhuman ecstasy Abby had managed to break the bed as the legs snapped beneath them causing the mattresses to hit the floor. Like wise Owen, who had reached back and was gripping part of the headboard as he attempted to endure Abby's passion, had ripped one of the bed posts loose during his frenzied climax. He sat up abruptly throwing his arms around Abby. They both squealed and cried as they gave themselves over to the absolute delight of their combined ravishment, gripping each other tightly as they buried their faces in each other's necks. In the aftermath neither of them moved, aside from mutual pelvic contractions that signaled the last twinges of their shared lust driven spasms.

After that they both laid back down on the bed with Abby on top of Owen.

"Tha-that…was…was…ohhhhhh." Abby whimpered still trying to recover from what she had just experienced.

Owen in the meantime wouldn't have been able to string a coherent sentence together if he tried. If he had it would've been either gibberish or him in caveman speak going, 'feel good, me likey!'

Abby and Owen gently kissed one another, hopelessly caught up in one another's blissful afterglow. As they stared longingly into each's other's eyes they wanted to speak, but words could not do justice to what they had just shared. Never had either of them felt anything so wonderful and it was made all the more perfect that they had experienced it together. Finally however she broke the silence.

"I think I could get used to doing this in a bed, and sleeping in one, rather than a closet." She grinned.

"It's also much easier to snuggle in...and far easier to read a book may I add." Owen joked as they both giggled.

But as they both slowly regained their composure they reflected on their lives together and everything that had led them to this moment. They thought back to how different they both were once and how they had both changed in so many ways. True there had been allot of pain and hardship, but in the end it was worth it.

But just then Abby got her second wind.

"Wanna try it on the ceiling next?" She suddenly said with a dirty leer as Owen's eyes got as big as saucers.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

With the drug that Abby and Owen had retrieved from Franklin, Dr. Versarious was finally able to finish what his former colleague had started. There was at last a cure for the feral disease. Humans that had been turned could be made human again. There was also an inoculant made that prevented the feral infection from turning people once they were bitten providing them with immunity. Dr. Harris, had not died in vain. In no time both were mass produced. Word spread fast to those areas where conventional forms of communication still functioned, while the cure was delivered cross country to locales where such conveniences no longer existed. Soon the scales would tip back in the favor of humanity as they slowly began to repopulate and expand once more.

Meanwhile Abby and Owen's need for blood was dealt with by blood drives arranged by Doctor Versarious. New Haven had a population of around fifty thousand, which made it easy to get the blood needed and fresh as well. As long as Abby and Owen lived in New Haven, they would never need to hurt or kill another living human again. But even though Abby and Owen were regarded as heroes by most for what they had done, there were still those who despised them simply for being what they were. But by and by, the good far outweighed the bad.

As strange as it sounded, in some ways the world was improved by this near apocalypse that humanity had barely survived. The drastic cut to the world's population and cessation of so much industry would prove be a boon to the planetary environment and allow environmental damage to repair itself. One night as Abby and Owen sat atop the roof of their home gazing up at the stars she felt the need to comment on it.

"I can feel it." Abby suddenly said.

"Feel what?" Owen asked.

"How much cleaner everything is. It's like things once were, back when I was first turned, back before trains and cars and technology and all the other stuff that caused pollution. It isn't just the human race that's been given a second chance, but the planet too."

For the first time in an untold age, Abby felt really good about everything. She had Owen back and she had been able to help save the human race which, in her eyes she hoped, balanced out what she had done in the past to survive. To somehow atone for the blood that stained her hands.

"I can't believe we made it, there were times when I thought we wouldn't." Owen admitted.

"I was never worried." Abby told him.

"Really? How come?"

"Because I was there for you and you were there for me. As long we have each other…there's nothing that we can not do."

Owen couldn't help but blush, being the big softie that he was. She then leaned in and kissed him. Afterward they snuggled up closer to one another putting their arms across each other's shoulders. They then leaned in sideways on each other, their heads tilting until they met, at that moment Abby thought of poem she once read long ago.

_I carry your heart with me, I carry it in my heart, _

_I am never without it, anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling._

_I fear no fate, for you are my fate, my sweet I want no world, for beautiful you are my world, my true, and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you. _

_Here is the deepest secret nobody knows, here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hideand this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart._

_I carry your heart, I carry it in my heart._

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Epilogue/resolution

Both Dr. Versarious and the late Dr. Harris were awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine for their combined accomplishments in creating the cure for the feral virus.

Bob Williams was given the job of chief of security for New Haven and eventually remarried. He, his new wife and son are currently living happily in New Haven and are expecting a child.

Corey is still the coolest kid in any town that he's in. He regales the other children with stories of his adventures in Shangri-la and their journey to New Haven…he still thinks Abby has a cute butt.

Eric became a radio DJ in New Haven, bringing his unique brand of insanity to countless listeners each and every morning. His favorite tagline is, "The apocalypse didn't make me crazy, it just gave me an excuse!"

Abby and Owen still live happily in secret among the people of New Haven. Abby eventually wrote a book about their adventures that was eventually turned into a stage play. Owen says the book was better. They still can't have sex without breaking the bed.

Eventually a monument was erected in the center of downtown New Haven dedicated to all those who had a part in finding a way to stop the vampire virus and begin the process of returning the world to normal. On it the following was engraved...

_"To the brave souls that helped save our world both human and inhuman. A debt that can never be repaid. We salute you."_

**THE END**

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Well everyone that's it. Just want to say thanks to everyone who read and stuck by this tale and inspired me to keep going when I had only planned a oneshot. And thanks also to everyone who gave tips and hints to help make the story better than it otherwise would have been. If you haven't already please feel free to check out 'Not Forgotten', 'Child Of Fate' in the crossover section and 'United We Stand' in my profile, though it is a mega huge crazy multi film and show crossover, Abby and Owen are important characters in that one, just be sure to read the author's note at the start of it though.

Thanks again folks, its been a pleasure. :)


End file.
